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Repercussions
While the obvious targets of the Operation were HIGH TIMES, 'Sinsemilla Tips' the Seed Bank, store owners, small-time growers and the thousands of people who were investigated, the real victim of Green Merchant has been the Bill of Rights.
The right of free speech is a cornerstone of our republic. History is full of people that spoke out advocating illegal positions in an effort to change the laws governing them -- from Thoreau's 'Civil Disobediance' to 'The Abolition Papers', from Freedom Marches to abortion rights. What 'Sinsemilla Tips' did, and what HIGH TIMES does -- advocate the legalization of marijuana -- is no different than what others have done throughout American history. The right to print what we choose to print is supposed to be inviolate.
The right to privacy is supposed to be protected as well. Yet the investigation of thousands of people -- based solely on their having purchased legal equipment from legal businesses which just happened to advertise, amoung other places, in pro-marijuana magazines -- has been continually defended by the Justice Department as necessary to their effort in the War on Drugs, despite its obvious constitutional infringment.
The rights to privacy were further comprimised by the thousands of warrantless searches made in that investigation. While many people allowed those consent searches to be performed, others were intimidated into them. To date, dozens of government cases have been dropped as a result of those unlawful entries.
Perhaps the rights most abused in the execution of Operation Green Merchant involve personal property and the right to be innocent until proven guilty. The use of forfeiture during the government's prosecution of the Operation has absolutely shredded these basic rights. That store owners could have their businesses seized by federal agents, without there being enough evidence to charge those owners with any criminal activity whatsoever; is a terrifying concept; that people found to be growing marijuana in the privacy of their homes could have those homes seized by government agents before they were ever brought to trial is unconscionable. And yet this was one of the recurring themes of Green Merchant: confiscate property; threaten charges which would bankrupt the defendant to defend; and then make an offer to withdraw the charges if they agree not to fight the forfeiture.
Net Results
The government not only denies ever trying to put either HIGH TIMES or 'Sinsemilla Tips' out of business by gutting their advertising, it has defended the actions of the federal, state and local authorities in every phase of Green Merchant as integral to the success of the War on Drugs. Terrance W. Burke, the Acting Deputy Administrator of the DEA, suggests that "there is no such thing as a casual or innocent drug user of illegal substances. Users are a major factor in the drug-trafficking problem, and they are going to be held accountable."
Steve Hager, HT's Editor-in-Chief finds fault with that argument. "The whole reason we told people to grow their own pot was to get rid of the criminal element. We said, if you want this -- to eat it, to smoke it, whatever -- that's your God-given right, and we'll tell you how to grow it. Don't give your money to the narcotic traffickers. Don't support the criminal drug trade."
Marijuana is illegal today not because it's unsafe to drive while high, or because some religious and temperance groups think it's the devil's weed; it's still illegal only because the big boys haven't yet seen their way clear to corner the market once it does become legal. But you can bet they are working on that; both marijuana for smoking and hemp for its thousands of commercial uses -- from plastics to pulp, paper to pesticides, from food to fuel, fiber to pharmaceuticals -- are just too valuable to be kept of the market forever. It's just a question of working out the details -- amoung which is ridding the marketplace of as many independant growers and as much information as possible. That part of the plan went into effect on Black Thursday -- October 26, 1989.
In the final analysis, Operation Green Merchant has done nothing but ruin the lives of thousands, destroy the Bill of Rights, obfuscate the potential commercial and medical uses of hemp/marijuana by continuing to demonize it, raise the price of pot and invite the criminals to take charge of its production..
Way to go boys.
The Numbers
During a two-week period beginning on October 26, 1989, the DEA raided gardening centers and private homes in 46 states. The results of that first phase of Green Merchant -- released on November 9, 1989 -- were:
(No new statistics on either quantities of packaged marijuana or other illegal substances seized.)
The Operation was far from over. During the past 18 months the DEA has continued its Green Merchant investigations. The most recent figures released by the Justice Department on February 1, 1991 are :
Of all the arrests made in Green Merchant thus far, only two people had illegal substances other than marijuana in their homes; one man with 2.5 pounds of methamphetamine, and another with 5 pounds of mushrooms. Indeed indoor pot-growers don't appear to be supporting the criminal drug trade.
