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Less than a week after journalists and heads of state in Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi celebrated the historic first direct flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates, a different peace flight took place last Thursday in Tel Aviv. A mystery band of pranksters flew a drone high above the city’s main square, dropping hundreds of bags of free weed on the stunned passersby below.
And just like that, the legend of “the Green Drone” was born.
Fast forward just three days later, and the group behind the weed drone has gained well over 3,000 followers on Telegram, and in an interview with The Cannigma, they say they’re just getting started.
“We are working on it already to make it happen around the country, we see how it makes the people go wild. They love the games of free weed, it makes them [feel] alive,” said “Doc” who described him/herself as “something of a social media assistant” for the shadow pilots of the unprecedented marijuana drone.
Contacted on Instagram, Doc said that the goal of the cannabis drops is “free love to the people of Israel…We’re here to change the situation, get the prices [to] drop, get the government’s attention to the people who actually need it.”
Police arrested two people who they said were involved in the drone flight on Thursday. So in light of the risks, what exactly is the group trying to accomplish?
“Legalization of marijuana in Israel, a.k.a. Weed, as most of Israeli citizens [are] trying to achieve,” Doc said, adding that the group first had the idea for the marijuana flyovers at least three years before it carpet bombed Rabin Square last week.
Israel’s underground weed marketers have become more brazen in recent years, in a country with one of the highest rates of cannabis use in the world. In late 2019 for instance, an underground weed delivery service attempted to sponsor a C league soccer team, until the national soccer association threatened to sue the team.
While the country has been one of the world’s leaders in medical cannabis research, the plant remains illegal for adult use.
Doc said the group was shocked by the media storm they sparked, though he/she is aware that drones dropping marijuana over cities in the Middle East — or anywhere — is not an everyday affair.
And as Israel this week became the country with the world’s highest per capita rate of new COVID-19 infections, there has never been a better time for the skies to open up with free herb, Doc said.
“Corona stuck us all without money or marijuana, so the best thing is to have each other to take care of ourselves,” they said.
Asked what type of marijuana was dropped over Tel Aviv last week, Doc said it was likely Super Silver Haze but added that he wasn’t 100% sure which strain was fired from the drone. Doc did say that the group had packed enough weed to drop 1,500 small baggies in an encore performance in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon Sunday night.
In the hours before the Holon flyover dozens of the Green Drone’s more than 3,300 followers on Telegram clamored for any and all information about the drop, with the group saying only that the city and location would be announced 30 minutes ahead of time — and to be ready.
Sure enough, at 10pm, the Green Drone announced in their Telegram channel that they were on their way to the suburb’s Peres Park, and minutes later, users in the group shared clips of a drone hovering over the park firing little baggies like a confetti cannon.
Things went downhill quickly.
A user with the screen name and avatar “Coolio” said, “guys I took 10, there are tons left,” while someone else with an avatar of the rapper Schoolboy Q said “1-2 guys took everything and left.” Others shared clips of scooter-to-scooter traffic in the parking lot of the park. Meanwhile, the Green Drone group admin warned that Holon police had swarmed the area forcing them to flee before they could fully strafe the park, and had infiltrated the Telegram group as well.
“We had to run, you can accept that or not but we are here for one goal — free love!!!” they wrote, adding “friends, a little respect, it’s insulting to read what you’re writing after all that we’re trying to do here.”
They then added that on Monday they will hold flyovers across the country beginning at 10am, and that they would close the group in the meantime because of “the ungratefulness and disrespect” on display in the replies.
But while the Green Drone might not be apply to bring peace and love between Israelis, when asked if they thought about flying over the Palestinian Territories, and if it could bring an end to the Mideast conflict, Doc said simply “I guess if our governments will smoke a joint.”
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