Agents Going After Pot Plants

Rogers County is playing host to dozens of state narcotics agents this week.  They are doing their annual sweep of looking for and destroying cultivated marijuana crops.  The News On 6's crime reporter Lori Fullbright reports they've only been at it for one day and have already found 200 plants and made three arrests.

Choppers will be burning up the gas this week, flying all over northeastern Oklahoma, as agents look for cultivated marijuana fields.  They spotted a patch about 40 miles from Claremore.

A state law allows agents to use Roundup on marijuana plants.  The weed killer is very effective in eradicating the pot plants.

"The plant count has dropped dramatically each year. At this point, we have it under control, we do. We're very much in suppression mode," said Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Director Darrell Weaver.

But, that wasn't always the case.  In the early 1990's, commercial cultivators were taking up hundreds of acres in Oklahoma.  In fact, marijuana was the state's number one cash crop.  That's when the governor asked OBN to step in and take over.

They spent years destroying truckloads of it and now, they say annual missions, keep the numbers down. 

Most people don't think marijuana is a dangerous drug, but these agents say they see where it leads.

"We ask a simple question, where did this start? Maybe you're on meth now or you're on crack cocaine now, but where did this start and almost every time, they say it started with marijuana," said Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Director Darrell Weaver.

When agents come up with a small pile of pot, rather than a truckload, they see that as the greatest sign of success that all their efforts are working.