Here in Maine, circa 1990, I was visiting a blueberry field with my father.
It was August, and the wild Maine blueberries were being harvested by the blueberry “rakers.”
There was a National Guard helicopter flying very low and slow over the edges of the fields, where the blueberry fields and the woods meet. I asked someone what the helicopter was doing there, and he said, “They’re looking for marijuana plants.”
The chopper was only about 20 - 30 feet off the ground.
Even then, I thought it was an invasion of privacy and a warrantless search. I was ticked off, even though I didn’t even know the owner of the field. My father and I were visiting the guy in charge of the blueberry rakers.
No “pot” plants were found.
I know several NG chopper pilots tell of looking for marijuana plants in central Texas. The bad thing was that there were marijuana patches on Camp Mabry and Camp Swift, both military reservations. They did find some plots in Bastrop county.