Does Hollywood Use Fake Marijuana Plants?

      • A sometime druggie at work asked this question: he noted that in many Hollywood films that showed marijuana plants, the plants usually looked very real. Today of course anything can be digitally faked, but he noted examples all the way back into the Cheech and Chong era, before “do-anything-digital effects” were in use. Does Hollywood use the real stuff? (-it’s not like we thought they’d have a hard time coming up with any, but, you know,) Do they get permission to borrow some from the police, or do they just “get” it somehow and film it when the cops aren’t around? -Or is there some fake look-alike plant they substitute? - MC

There was an earlier GQ thread, What do they use to stand in for marijuana in movies?, which was mainly about stand-ins for joints, but the issue of marijuana plants came up as well:

Damn… last time i drove to california I saw that at a few different public places and was convinced it was either some hilarious landscaping accident or some pot-head’s way of avoiding growing in his back yard

Re: Oleander - Lest anyone get desperate and tempted, I thought I should chime in here and mention that Oleander is highly toxic :wink: . Personally, I loathe the stuff as an ornamental. If you ask me CalTrans went overboard on some of the CA freeways. Especially 80, around Davis.

And you know - They don’t look all that Marijuana-like too me. shrug Oh, well :slight_smile: .

  • Tamerlane

The White Oak Reed is also also a dead ringer for Marijuana plants. There is a small grower in Humbolt County (California) who grows patches of it for use in movies who had his land raided by the Sheriff’s Department over this confusion.

hmmmmm…

(scratches head thoughtfully)

“But officer… it’s just white oak reed!!! I HAVE to grow 3 acres of it in case they need it in a movie”
“No…you can’t have a sample to test…”

:slight_smile:

They apparently sometimes do use fake plants. I expect it varies from movie to movie:

You can buy a small one here for $14.95:

It is perfectly legal to grow and/or possess non-pshychotropic varieties of hemp, which look, smell, bud, and produce lazy hazy smoke like the real thing. I imagine it may even give you a headache and red eyes like it’s psychoactive cousin. It is the variety used to grow hemp for industrial purposes including hemp rope, oil, and clothing.

While driving through the quaint countryside of the Czech Republic, a friend of mine stumbled upon a field with acres and acres of weed. After having just spent some time in Amsterdam, he thought he had stumbled upon a gold mine. He dashed from the car and grabbed a handful of leaves. After having smoked and/or eaten mounds of the stuff, he was sad to learn that it had been industrial hemp. It did make for some very interesting Jimmy Cliff-esque photos, though. :smiley:

Industrial hemp is legal in the U.S., but it may cause you a bit of trouble and a bit of explaining if found in your posession by the wrong people.

A note on oleander. I read once (IIRC it was in “The Living Desert and You”, a book about things to avoid when you’re transfered to Edwards Air Force Base) that people have died after cooking meat over an oleander fire. Just a few months ago there was a story on the news about two kids who died after eating oleander.

In the US, I’m pretty sure you aren’t allowed to grow hemp. (Since, you know, hemp and marijuana are the same damn plant, ya hippies :slight_smile: ). Seriously, if you were allowed to grow vast acres of hemp (for making rope and blankets), this would be a law enforcement nightmare. They would have to go around testing plants, air surveillance would be nigh impossible, there would be all sorts of arguments about how much THC an “industrial” hemp plant could contain, etc, etc, etc. I’m fairly certain that hemp used in the US (and posession of actual hemp is quite legal) is imported from other countries.