Operation Green Sweep was a series of drug raids conducted by over 200

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

soldiers, National Guardsmen, and federal agents in

Humboldt County, California Humboldt County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 136,463. The county seat is Eureka. Humboldt County comprises the Eureka–Arcata–Fortuna, California Micropolitan Statistica ...

. The operation was the first time active-duty troops were used to combat

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

growing in the United States. The joint federal and state operation led by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

was centered around eradicating marijuana and removing agribusiness paraphernalia from the

King Range National Conservation Area The King Range is a mountain range of the Outer Northern California Coast Ranges System, located entirely within Humboldt County on the North Coast of California. Geography Much of the mountain range's area is protected within the King Range N ...

, federal land administered by BLM near

Petrolia, California Petrolia is an unincorporated community in Humboldt County, California, northeast of Cape Mendocino, at an elevation of above sea level, within ZIP Code 95558, and area code 707. Petrolia was the site of the first oil well drilled in Califor ...

. On July 29, 1990 a joint task force converged at a base camp in Humboldt County for what is known as Operation Green Sweep. The operation was led by the

and consisted of approximately 60 drug law enforcement agents, 110 California National Guardsmen and 60 regular U.S. Army soldiers from the 7th Infantry Division, the same unit that was used in the

invasion of Panama The United States invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause, lasted over a month between mid-December 1989 and late January 1990. It occurred during the administration of President George H. W. Bush and ten years after the Torrijos– ...

during the previous December. This marked the first time that the government had ever used military force against its own citizens in a drug operation. It also established that law enforcement officials—now cooperating with U.S. military forces—have the ability to search, seize and detain, without warrant or probable cause, in the war on drugs. Property may be seized regardless of evidence and forfeited to the state or federal government without regards to the Fourth Amendment.H. Jane Lehman, "Expanded War on Drugs May Threaten Landlords," Washington Post, November 17, 1990, p. E1; Michael Isikoff, "Drug Raids Net Much Valuable Property--and Legal Uproar," Washington Post, April 1, 1991, p. A1. A contingent of 200 military troops conducted a massive

eradication program where military helicopters flew overhead surveying residents, homes, and fields, and conducted road blocks, interrogations, and detentions. Violent demonstrations by Humboldt County locals against Green Sweep broke out. The first day of the raid resulted in the seizure of 200 marijuana plants and 700 pounds of farming equipment. Two eradication teams were deployed the very next day and seized a further 523 plants. Eradication continued on August 1, resulting in 683 plants and 2.6 tons of growing paraphernalia confiscated from the local farmers. Local citizens began attempts to disrupt military communications in order to slow the progress of the raid, the military responded by introducing code words into Task Force radio nets. The operation continued several more days in August. The public continued to protest (sometimes violently) the actions of the military and federal officials. On August 3, local residents threatened a military laundry unit with a pistol and another group fired shots at a

UH-60 The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System ...

helicopter. Though the operation was scheduled to continue until August 10 all operations ceased on August 5, most likely due to the escalating demonstrations. The results from the property seized during Operation Green Sweep were: 1400 marijuana plants (worth approximately $2000 each) and 12 tons of growing equipment.

References

External links

LA Times: Army Troops Join Marijuana Raids
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green Sweep, Operation Anti-cannabis operations Cannabis and the United States military Cannabis eradication Cannabis in California Drug control law in the United States History of Humboldt County, California