Police torched approximately 20 tons of confiscated cannabis in Lice, a town in Turkey’s Diyarbakır province, leaving residents high for nearly a week.
The incident occurred on April 18, when officials set fire to 20 tons, 766 kilos, and 679 grams of seized marijuana worth roughly 10 billion Turkish Lira (about $261 million USD) collected around the province in 2023 and 2024. The ensuing haze permeated the town of 25,000 people, leaving residents dizzy, queasy, and, in some cases, delusional.
“The smell of drugs has been enveloping the district for days,” a local man complained. “We cannot open our windows. Our children got sick, we are constantly going to the hospital.”
For at least five days, families kept their windows closed and avoided venturing outside, essentially becoming captives in their own THC-saturated town.
However, the situation worsened when the cops allegedly organized the bags of cannabis into flame letters spelling out the town’s name “LICE” like a cooked bat signal visible through the smog.
Yahya Öğer, Chairman of the Yeşil Yıldız Association, wasn’t amused.
“This was perhaps done as a preventive measure to deter, but the fact that it was destroyed in the city center could cause serious discomfort to people due to the smoke of burned hemp,” Öğer told reporters.
He strongly recommended that future drug disposals take place in factories with filtered chimneys, instead of right where people live and breathe.
“As you know, the destruction or burning of such herbs can also cause serious intoxication,” Öğer added. “Just as tobacco harms passive smokers when used in a closed area, the smoke released by such narcotic substances when disposed of can cause serious discomfort… It can make people drunk, dizzy, nauseated, and cause hallucinations.”
So, to recap: the entire town of Lice was accidentally hotboxed for nearly a week by the police, and they didn’t even get a warning.
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