Driving through Humboldt County last winter, I heard radio ads for help harvesting and selling cannabis crops, as well as for products geared toward commercial cultivation. But less than 40 years ago, the same area was one of the main battlefields of Californias war on pot growers.

By the late 1960s, the three counties of the Emerald Triangle had developed a reputation for growing a high-quality product. Demand grew rapidly, and prices skyrocketed, fueling greater production. In 1983, after several unsuccessful attempts to cut down production, the state started the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or CAMP.

A search in the Chronicle archive shows decades-old photos of raids in Humboldt and Mendocino counties, backlash from local communities and more recent coverage on why CAMP is still operating today.

On July 21, 1983, Attorney General John Van de Kamp announced a coordinated campaign using federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to raid marijuana grows in more than a dozen California counties.

Were not here today to make great sweeping promises that all marijuana planting will be eradicated in Northern California this year, Van de Kamp said.

But this is a serious effort, he added, explaining the federal Drug Enforcement Administration would use spy planes to map forested, remote regions to target the raids.

After the first 10-week effort, Van de Kamp reported 65,000 plants, or about 215,000 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street-value of more than $130 million, had been rounded up and destroyed.

Van de Kamp had to admit that there was no reliable way to measure how much of the states crop had been destroyed.

They havent even scratched the surface, one North Coast grower told reporter Steve Wiegand. There are gardens so far back that even the growers have trouble getting to them.

But CAMP continued.

Barry Inman, a 22-year-old reserve police officer with a crew cut, took a machete to a marijuana garden yesterday, with the gusto of a young man who enjoys his work, Chronicle correspondent Paul Liberatore wrote in 1985 as he and staff photographer Vince Maggiora accompanied a raid in Willits (Mendocino County).

Being able to take something illegal from someone and getting the dope off the street is a good feeling, Inman said, shifting an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle slung over his shoulder.

Inman was one of about 200 reserve officers who volunteered for dope duty, Liberatore wrote, making about $10 an hour and hoping it would mean a springboard into full-time jobs in law enforcement.

The raiders knew they werent welcome. Were the bad guys, said Richard Sinclair, a reserve officer from the Monterey area. Were seen as being the system, the police state. People yell things and flip us off.

While that years CAMP efforts had already netted 29,000 destroyed plans and 16 arrests, local growers said it was primarily a good show.

They are wasting their money and time, one self-described mom and pop grower told Liberatore, There is dope all over these hills. They will never get rid of it. They will never win.

The 1990 CAMP efforts made the war on drugs idea more literal: The U.S. Army got involved. One Humboldt County operation involved 50 federal agents, 75 California National Guard troops, 60 soldiers and seven helicopters from Fort Ord.

Locals considered it an escalation. About 200 residents protested at the closely guarded gate to the wilderness camping area where CAMP was based.

Its really scary, and the whole community is up in arms, said Jake Lustig, a teenage construction worker from Whale Gulch (Mendocino County). Lustig said the heavily armed ground forces, supported by helicopters and military vehicles, gave the impression of an invading army.

Federal and state officials were pleased with the raid.

Im very proud of the way our forces have handled this and how the military has operated, Cy Jamison, chief of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said on the fifth day of the sweep.

CAMP raids continued, despite California legalizing medicinal and then recreational use of cannabis. In 2000, San Mateo County and state justice officials announced they had found more than 12,000 marijuana plants growing near Crystal Springs Reservoir, not far from Huddart Park, a record bust for the county.

But the efforts began shifting. After years of trying to contain local growers, federal officials said they would now focus on the Mexican drug traffickers who had expanded their marijuana-growing operations in public California parkland.

We dont even bother with medicinal grows, Michael Johnson, the statewide commander of the CAMP task force, told The Chronicle in 2009. What were concerned about is the destruction of the habitat.

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From the Archive is a weekly column by Bill Van Niekerken, the library director of The Chronicle, exploring the depths of the newspapers archive. Its part of Chronicle Vault, a twice-weekly newsletter highlighting more than 150 years of San Francisco stories. It is edited by Taylor Kate Brown, The Chronicles newsletter editor. Sign up for the newsletter here, and follow Chronicle Vault on Instagram. Contact Bill at bvanniekerken@sfchronicle.com and Taylor at taylor.brown@sfchronicle.com.

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When California declared war on cannabis growers and called in the Army - San Francisco Chronicle