Talk:News:1983-08-12/Eradication/dea-and-georgia-begin-spraying-marijuana-with-paraquat-in-the-chattahoochee-national-forest

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Discussion for: News:1983-08-12/Eradication/dea-and-georgia-begin-spraying-marijuana-with-paraquat-in-the-chattahoochee-national-forest • View • Links • Related changes

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Discussion

Place

The United Press International report of 12 August 1983 names no forest: it says only that the spraying began "in northern Georgia" and that "The time and exact location of the spraying was not disclosed". The forest comes from the federal court's order in North Georgia C.O.P.S. v. Reagan, 587 F. Supp. 1506 (N.D. Ga. 1984): "the DEA decided to spray paraquat on illegal marijuana in the Chattahoochee National Forest. This spraying occurred on August 12, 1983." (Caselaw Access Project copy). United Press International named the same forest on 1 September 1983.

Attribution

The court and the Drug Enforcement Administration name the DEA as the sprayer. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is named only by Governor Harris, who said that the DEA and the bureau "could dousethe fields with pinpoint accuracy" (sic).

Map pin

The site within the forest was never disclosed. The pin is the middle of the bounding box of the Chattahoochee National Forest's proclaimed boundary in the Forest Service's boundary data, and marks the forest, not the place of the spraying.

These notes were recorded when the news item was prepared. Éloise 19:30, 21 October 2026 (+07)