A drone over Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square dropped hundreds of bags of weed on Thursday, setting off a mad scramble by onlookers to stock up, the Jerusalem Post reported.
According to the Post, the giveaway was orchestrated by a Telegram group called Green Drone that advocates for the legalization of marijuana throughout Israel. (Medical marijuana is legal in Israel and a major export as of May; the Ministry of Security partially decriminalized recreational marijuana use in 2017 but full legalization efforts are still being negotiated.) The group told followers on Telegram that this was just the start of an ongoing “rain of cannabis.”
“It’s time my dear brothers. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the green drone, handing out free cannabis from the sky… Enjoy my beloved brothers, this is your pilot brother, making sure we all get some free love,” the group wrote before the drop, according to the Post.
“We’re launching the ‘rain of cannabis’ project, that will include a weekly delivery to different parts of the country of 1 kilo of cannabis divided into free 2 gram bags,” they added.
The Times of Israel, however, reported that the weed-dropping drone might have had more to do with viral marketing than activism: the Green Drone channel is also a marijuana delivery service. The bags dropped also contained business cards with a contact number for potential customers.
Some of the bags also missed Rabin Square entirely and fell on nearby Ibn Gabirol Street, the Times wrote, after operators apparently misjudged the wind. Individuals darted into traffic to grab bags.
הזייה בכיכר רבין: רחפן הטיל מהשמיים עשרות שקיות של מריחואנה. מי שעומד מאחורי המיזם זאת קבוצה שמכנה את עצמה “הרחפן הירוק”. בגלל שלא חישבו נכון את הרוח, רוב החומר התפזר על הכביש באבן גבירול. עוברי אורח נהנו מהשלל@ynetalerts pic.twitter.com/xeziJsH950
— איתי בלומנטל Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) September 3, 2020
Police arrested two individuals on suspicion of having operated the drone. According to Reuters, authorities said they suspected the bags contained a “dangerous drug” (uh huh) and recovered dozens of packets.