# Does Hollywood Use Fake Marijuana Plants? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2001, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hollywood-use-fake-marijuana-plants/72906 "2001-07-18T09:21:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2001, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hollywood-use-fake-marijuana-plants/72906/1 "2001-07-18T09:21:05Z")
- - - 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 ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2001, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hollywood-use-fake-marijuana-plants/72906/2 "2001-07-18T09:32:03Z")
There was an earlier GQ thread, [What do they use to stand in for marijuana in movies?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=50905), which was mainly about stand-ins for joints, but the issue of marijuana plants came up as well: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MsRobyn \* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by xizor \* > > What about movies like “The Beach” and “Nice Dreams” where they actually show marijuana plants growing? Do they have stand-in plants that look like marijuana plants as well? > > Oleander, a common shrub in California can look suspiciously like marijuana. A boy I went to school with brought some in a baggie for use in a project on drugs and almost got himself arrested for possession. (The bag with powdered sugar “cocaine” didn’t help much.) > > There are also silk plants that can simulate pot, at least for the purposes of moviemaking. > > Robin ---
**Author:** ![Kaje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kaje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaje)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2001, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hollywood-use-fake-marijuana-plants/72906/3 "2001-07-18T10:43:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MEBuckner \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by MsRobyn \* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by xizor \* > > > What about movies like “The Beach” and “Nice Dreams” where they actually show marijuana plants growing? Do they have stand-in plants that look like marijuana plants as well? > > > > Oleander, a common shrub in California can look suspiciously like marijuana. > > \*\* 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 ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2001, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hollywood-use-fake-marijuana-plants/72906/4 "2001-07-18T10:52:25Z")
Re: Oleander - Lest anyone get desperate and tempted, I thought I should chime in here and mention that Oleander is highly toxic 😉 . 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 🙂 . - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2001, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hollywood-use-fake-marijuana-plants/72906/5 "2001-07-18T14:46:31Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Freedom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Freedom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freedom)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hollywood-use-fake-marijuana-plants/72906/6 "2001-07-18T23:12:35Z")
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…” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2001, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hollywood-use-fake-marijuana-plants/72906/7 "2001-07-18T23:34:06Z")
They apparently sometimes do use fake plants. I expect it varies from movie to movie: > [@](#): > > Aptos, California – Pot thieves may have mistakenly stolen seven fake marijuana plants that were tucked away among redwood trees. “They looked really real. They had buds on them and everything,” said Tina Williams, a state park ranger at the Forest of Nicene Marks in Santa Cruz County. Williams said the thieves may have known the plants were fake, and may have stolen them in protest of the movie company moving truckloads of heavy gear into the usually peaceful California park. Underdog Films had been using the plants made from silk for their new film, “Home Grown,” about marijuana farmers, starring Ted Danson, John Lithgow, Kelly Lynch, Jon Bon Jovi and Jamie Lee Curtis (Associated Press, “Pot Thieves Take Film-Prop Plants,” Washington Post, November 29, 1996, p. A12). You can buy a small one here for $14.95: > **[Silkweeds.com is For Sale | BrandBucket](https://www.brandbucket.com/names/silkweeds?source=ext)** > > Buy the domain name Silkweeds.com and launch your business with a premium domain and a high quality logo. ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hollywood-use-fake-marijuana-plants/72906/8 "2001-07-19T04:58:05Z")
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. 😃 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. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hollywood-use-fake-marijuana-plants/72906/9 "2001-07-19T13:47:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hollywood-use-fake-marijuana-plants/72906/10 "2001-07-19T15:06:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wishbone \* > \*\*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. > > 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. \*\* 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 🙂 ). 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.