What’s the Biggest Cannabis Seizure Ever?
Every year, law enforcement agencies worldwide uncover staggering amounts of illegal cannabis — from single-site raids to massive, months-long crackdowns. But what is the biggest cannabis seizure of all time? Is there a Guinness World Record for the largest drug bust in history?
In the United States, federal and state task forces have reported massive aggregated seizures and eradications in recent years, often measured in the hundreds of tons across numerous warrants. For instance, a 2025 California task force report estimates that more than 220 tons of processed cannabis and hundreds of thousands of plants have been seized and destroyed since 2022 — though that figure represents a multi-year, statewide effort rather than a single haul. Another relatively recent example is an operation in Oregon from 2021, which resulted in the police seizing an epic 500,000 pounds (250 tons) of harvested marijuana.
Record-breaking busts of marijuana have been reported elsewhere around the world. Here are some of the most extraordinary cases.
The Heaviest Drug Haul of All Time
Nearly twenty years ago in Afghanistan, authorities uncovered what Guinness World Records described as the world’s largest cannabis capture by weight — an astonishing 237 tones, worth approximately €263 million. The haul was said to be “the approximate equivalent of 30 double-decker buses,” filling “six large trenches covering an area the size of two football pitches.” The cannabis was later destroyed by Royal Air Force Harrier jets. The case was officially recorded in the Guinness Book of Records in 2008.
The Largest Cannabis Seizure of All Time
One more true record-breaker in the history of cannabis seizures was “Project Pacifico,” a sweeping joint operation by the U.S. DEA and Mexican authorities that entered the record books in 1984. The operation led to the confiscation of an estimated 10,000 tons (about 20 million pounds) of marijuana in Chihuahua, northern Mexico — one of the largest drug busts ever recorded.
The massive seizure stemmed from a series of coordinated raids on an enormous cultivation and processing complex linked to notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero. The haul included both standing cannabis plants spread across roughly 300 acres and large quantities of processed flower, with an estimated street value of $2.5 billion at the time. This, too, is written in the Guinness Book of Records.
While today’s enforcement operations continue to uncover huge illegal grows and shipments, nothing yet has eclipsed the scale of these record-breaking busts from decades past. Whether measured in tons, acres, or sheer audacity, the biggest cannabis seizures in history remind us of how vast — and enduring — the global cannabis trade has been, long before legalization changed the landscape.
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Stephen Andrews
