FLIGHT GIVES STUDENT A VIEW OF 'WAR ON DRUGS'

When Putnam City North High School student Maddye Hayes got into the
helicopter, she knew it wasn't just any ride.

Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control agents with guns
followed behind to protect agents and visitors, including the 14-year-old,
last Thursday during their aerial search of central Oklahoma as part of the
bureau's annual marijuana eradication program.

"It was like the real deal," Hayes said.

Though the group didn't find any plants during Hayes' ride, she said it
changed her perception of marijuana cultivation.

"I knew people did it but I didn't think people were growing it in fields,"
she said. "We saw some pictures. People have ... acres of it."

Hayes joined agents Thursday when the bureau invited elected officials to
attend.

Hayes' mother, Tookie Hayes, works for Rep. John Nance, R-Bethany, and when
she heard about the trip she asked if her daughter might go.

Woodward said bureau officials agreed to include Hayes because it would be
a good learning opportunity for her.

Though Hayes, whose hobby is photography, didn't get to take any
photographs of marijuana fields, she did snap pictures of the flight while
learning about the spraying equipment and agents' jobs, which can sometimes
be dangerous.

"They said sometimes people shoot at them," she said. "Before I thought
they were just like on the show 'Cops' where they bust people for drugs.
It's a lot more complicated."

During the annual search, the bureau sends out spotters in helicopters and
planes, and agents on the ground.

Sometimes agents in helicopters spray plants with weed killer using a 90-
foot rope and spray rig. But if that's not possible, they guide agents on
the ground to the fields, Woodward said.

Red dye in the chemicals help agents see where they've already been, and
spraying from the air saves the bureau time, he said.

Since the program began in 1989, the number of plants in the state has
decreased, Woodward said. In some cases, just having helicopters in the sky
has helped.

For example, sometimes people pull up plants when they see the helicopters
overhead, he said.

"That's been a great deterrent," Woodward said.