Operation Green Merchant
| Operation Green Merchant | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War on Drugs | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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| marijuana growers and related hydroponic and garden businesses | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| DEA agents, along with local, state and federal agents from 46 states | |||||||
Operation Green Merchant was a nationwide investigation and operation targeting businesses advertising specialized horticultural equipment that was supposedly used to grow cannabis in the 1990s.[1][2][3]
Background[edit]
The DEA had decided to investigate the advertising inside the High Times and Sinsemilla Tips with the goal of shutting down the blooming indoor marijuana industry using United Parcel Service records to trace deliveries of indoor growing equipment and seeds.
The three key targets of Green Merchant were the High Times magazine, Sinsemilla Tips magazine and the Holland's Seed Bank owned by Nevil Schoenmakers.[4]
On October 26, 1989, the DEA along with other local, state and federal agents, raided hydroponics and garden stores and business in 46 states, seizing assets and more than 100 arrests.[5] Operation Green Merchant, which lasted from 1988 to 1992, resulted in 1,698 arrests, 3,794 indoor growing operations seized, and $35 million in drug assets seized.[6]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Johnston, David (October 27, 1989). "119 Seized in Drive to Halt Indoor Marijuana Growing". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
- ^ Boyd, Ray (October 14, 2005). "Operation Green Merchant". Cannabis Culture. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013.
- ^ Roth, Jason (June 12, 1994). "High Times Is Feeling Mellow at 20". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on March 7, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
- ^ Isikoff, Michael (July 17, 1990). "Justice Dept. Probing Drug Counterculture Magazine". San Francisco Chronicle. p. A9.
DEA officials later confirmed that the list of specialty stores raided was culled from advertisers in High Times as well as in Sinsemilla Tips, a competing Oregon-based journal published by marijuana activist Tom Alexander. Alexander's indoor-gardening store, located in the same building as his magazine, was among those shut down by the raids.
- ^ Gorman, Peter (September 10, 2014). "40-Year Flashback: That Time the Feds Tried to Take Down High Times". High Times. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
- ^ Domestic Marijuana Eradication/Suppression Program Final Report (Report). Department of Justice - Drug Enforcement Administration. 1992. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
External links[edit]
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