A film by Nectarball
Operation Green Sweep
The War on American Farmers
What happens when the government’s War on Drugs becomes a war on American farmers?
Operation Green Sweep examines the conflict between cannabis cultivators and law enforcement: marijuana eradication campaigns, armed raids, aerial surveillance, and decades of prohibition.
- Produced by
- Patty Mooney & Mark Schulze
- From
- Nectarball, creators of NECTARBALL: The Story of Cannabis
- Run time
- 27 minutes
- Studio
- New & Unique Videos®
- Price
- $2, one time
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What the film asks
When the fields become battlegrounds
Through the experiences of farmers and rural communities, the film raises hard questions about four things Americans tend to hold dear:
- Property rightsWhat protects a farmer’s land, crops and equipment when the government decides what may grow there?
- Agricultural freedomWho gets to decide which plants are crops and which are contraband?
- Government authorityHow far should eradication reach, from the air and on the ground?
- The human costWhat criminalization has meant for families and rural communities.
Where the name comes from
The real Operation Green Sweep
In the summer of 1990, federal agencies sent troops and helicopters into the King Range near Petrolia, in California’s Humboldt County, to pull up marijuana on public land. It was the first time active-duty soldiers were used against cannabis growing in the United States, and local residents pushed back hard.
As cannabis laws and public attitudes keep changing, the film invites viewers to revisit this controversial chapter in American agricultural history and weigh the lasting impact of the War on Drugs.
- July 29, 1990The operation begins in the King Range National Conservation Area.
- WhoThe Bureau of Land Management, the California National Guard and the U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry Division.
- WithAbout 230 agents, guardsmen and soldiers, and Black Hawk helicopters.
- August 1990Operations halt early amid growing protests from residents.
Source: Operation Green Sweep, Wikipedia.
Who pays the price when the fields of American farmers become battlegrounds?
More from the NECTARBALL series
Operation Green Sweep is 27 minutes and $2 to watch, one time, no subscription. For licensing or screenings, contact us.
Watch the filmPatty Mooney and Mark Schulze are San Diego filmmakers and the co-founders of New & Unique Videos®, making independent films since 1985.