# Are marijuana leaves poisonous to rabbits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 12, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-marijuana-leaves-poisonous-to-rabbits/368403 "2006-08-12T04:54:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-marijuana-leaves-poisonous-to-rabbits/368403/1 "2006-08-12T04:54:03Z")
Not that I have any (of either), but I’ve been catching up on my Cute Overload, and found [this pic from July.](http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2006/07/debauchery_frid.html#comments) Now, it appears that the leaves in question aren’t, in fact, marijuana leaves. But the comments about it are mostly assuming they are, and range from stoner giggles to outraged harridans. A couple of posts which seem authoritative (but lack cites, or even the credentials of the poster) say that marijuana is poisonous to rabbits. Others, just as “authoritative”, say it’s not. There’s so much misinformation in there, I can’t tell what’s what. So, as always, I turn to the Dopers: mary jane, toxic to bunny rabbits? (And the bonus round: what\* is\* the plant in the picture?) ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-marijuana-leaves-poisonous-to-rabbits/368403/2 "2006-08-12T12:00:09Z")
My guess for the bonus question is [cleome](http://www.hort.net/gallery/view/caa/cleha/). Unfortunately, my google-fu is weak. It is easy to find pictures of the blooms, and tough to find pictures of the leaves. But we have Cleome running rampant in our garden, and are sometimes teased about the resemblence of the leaves to Pot. We’ve never seen bunnies eating the leaves, but we have pseudo-pet cats who serve as predators in our yard. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-marijuana-leaves-poisonous-to-rabbits/368403/3 "2006-08-12T14:39:23Z")
Wow, that really does look marijuana-ish! “Buds” and everything. Thanks for playing. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-marijuana-leaves-poisonous-to-rabbits/368403/4 "2006-08-12T14:49:18Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Are marijuana leaves poisonous to rabbits? I doubt it. The usual '[save our pets from poison plant sites](http://www.3bunnies.org/poisonous_plants.htm) ’ list it, but are unconvincing. For example, “depression of the central nervous system and incoordination” sounds like a fancy way of saying that rabbits get stoned. I’m not finding any hard core details on mechanisms of marihuana toxicity in rabbits or the like. There is one cite: [Rabbit behavioral model of marijuana psychoactivity in humans.](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=6270517&dopt=Abstract) which details a toxic effect of marijuana on rabbits, but it’s severely limited in scope: > [@](#): > > In a **genetically unique colony of tetrahydrocannabinol-seizure susceptible (THC-SS) rabbits**, nonfatal convulsions are elicited by delta 9THC, the major psychoactive ingredient of marijuana. The major characteristics of cannabinoid-produced psychoactivity (the “high”) in humans, e.g., dose-effect relationships, specificity of response to only psychoactive cannabinoids, tolerance development, EEG correlates, and delta 9THC-cannabidiol interactive effects, are also characteristics of cannabinoid-induced behavioral convulsions in the rabbits. If _most_ rabbits were susceptible to marijuana induced siezures, the colony wouldn’t be genetically unique would it? ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-marijuana-leaves-poisonous-to-rabbits/368403/5 "2006-08-12T14:50:28Z")
yeah, i second that. i wonder, are the plants related? anyway, i haven’t heard of the active ingredient of marijuana being poisonous to anything. Perhaps there’s something else in the leaves? also, could i tack on another question to this thread? what exactly is the reason that THC is in marijuana? my first guess would be that it somehow prevents the plant from getting eaten. yet then i realize, how in the world would a plant that gives animals the munchies not get eaten? maybe it attracts bees to pollinate the flowers? (since that is where most THC is) ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-marijuana-leaves-poisonous-to-rabbits/368403/6 "2006-08-12T23:50:48Z")
Those are definitely marijuana leaves, and it’s not poisonous to anything. Anybody who’s ever grown it knows that rabbits and deer _love_ the stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-marijuana-leaves-poisonous-to-rabbits/368403/7 "2006-08-13T06:54:40Z")
Maybe the rabbits get munchies and then go on to eat [mu]shrooms. Not being careful, they get poisoned and killed. Gateway drug, I tell you.