# Mail-order Marijuana?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2002, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550 "2002-07-24T12:06:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/1 "2002-07-24T12:06:17Z")
I found a site that claims to be a legitimate business that sells cannibis seeds. They talk about smoking it, how to grow it, they even specify what KIND you can get! They also sell “magic mushroom kits” HOW HOW HOW are they getting away with this?? They claim to ship to the US (not sure where they are located, they say they import thier seeds from Holland) but they don’t discuss legality anywhere on their site. They say that they have “learned how” to package it so it gets there. I know you can get prescription meds from foreign pharmacies, but that can at least pretend to be a legitimate business… but selling pot and shrooms on the internet?? Seems like they would get arrested the first week. [btw, in case anyone cares, I smoked pot about 2 or 3 times in my life, found it boring, and never tried it again. I found the site while googling for a pot leaf graphic for a design I’m doing.] Note: I’m not promoting drug use, or saying it is ok, I’m merely asking what the deal is with sites that do this ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/2 "2002-07-24T12:31:34Z")
There are any number of shops that do this in the UK. They expoit the fact that posession of seeds is not an offence in itself, but cultivation is. I imagine there is a similar getout in the US. When you get the seeds they come with a very stern warning about what would happen to you if you were foolish enough to germinate them. THis warning is rendered somewhat ineffective by the catalogue of growing supplies that come with them. I would imagine that the same is true of mushrooms (which aren’t illegal in England, but it is illegal to prepare them eg tea). Although given that they grow everywhere there’s not much point in selling them. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/3 "2002-07-24T12:44:19Z")
Aaaahhhhh… so the _seeds_ are legal! I had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/4 "2002-07-24T12:50:43Z")
In the UK they’re sold in bird seed (Specificallly “Trill”). ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/5 "2002-07-24T13:38:24Z")
There’s a related thread on [mushrooms](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=125544&highlight=mushrooms). Basically, the spores don’t contain psilocybin or psilocin, so they’re legal. How/if the sellers manufacture the spores legally, I don’t know. As for pot seeds, I thought they **do** contain THC and are illegal in the U.S. I’ll look for a link. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/6 "2002-07-24T13:47:56Z")
I don’t think the seeds are pyschoactive. As I say you can buy as many as you want here in the UK (and this was true before the recent decriminalisation of dope). So common is home cultivation here that the electricity companies will “grass you” to the old bill if your consumption soars ie you’re using grow lights. Still no need to be surreptitious now. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/7 "2002-07-24T13:53:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by owlstretchingtime \* > \*\*In the UK they’re sold in bird seed (Specificallly “Trill”). \*\* That’s ordinary hemp seed I believe, which is _slightly_ different. (probably the stuff you could buy on the internet is the same; After all, when your illicit crop turns out to be ordinary hemp, it’s not as if you’re going to report them to the ASA for misrepresenting the product, is it?). ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/8 "2002-07-24T14:01:39Z")
The stuff you can get in the UK is most certainly the best Dutch dope (Northern Lights, Skunk etc) and does exactly what it says on the tin. I’d post a link to show you but as I have no idea what the law is in the US I’d best not incite lawbreaking. Google is your friend for this sort of stuff though. Of course you could just come to your collective senses on the subject Owl Who hasn’t smoked dope in years and would probably have to go to bed for a week if he did now, but has no problem with others using the stuff. ---
**Author:** ![mandielise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@mandielise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandielise)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/9 "2002-07-24T17:29:56Z")
I dunno how true this is, but I heard somewhere that to get high from smoking seeds is almost impossible. They contain so little THC, and so many other things that you’d get sick first. My question for Mangetout is, how can there be “ordinary hemp seeds” verses other pot seeds. My understanding is that hemp is the male plant, and the buds (which you smoke) are on the female plant. Please educate me? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Friendly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr\_Friendly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Friendly)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/10 "2002-07-24T17:58:56Z")
no hemp are just non pharmaceutical strains of the cannabis plant. the buds, sinsemilla do come from female cannabis plants but hemp is a similair plant without the tendency to make massive potent buds. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/11 "2002-07-24T21:48:44Z")
We can talk about what the law says, but of course we won’t permit discussion of how to break the law. Accordingly, links to or names of providers of illegal products will be deleted. I don’t know about the U.K., but in the U.S. _unsterilized_ cannabis seeds are illegal. Sterilized seeds, incapable of germination, is a different matter. > [@](#): > > Unsterilized cannabis seeds (which are capable of germination) fit within the CSA definition of marijuana regardless of their THC content. Therefore, unsterilized seeds are considered a schedule I controlled substance. > [http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/fed\_regs/rules/2001/fr10093.htm#4](http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/fed_regs/rules/2001/fr10093.htm#4) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/12 "2002-07-24T21:53:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mandielise \* > \*\*My question for Mangetout is, how can there be “ordinary hemp seeds” verses other pot seeds. My understanding is that hemp is the male plant, and the buds (which you smoke) are on the female plant. Please educate me? \*\* Different varieties, just like Cauliflowers and Brussels Sprouts which are both botanically almost the same thing. (or perhaps a better comparison would be the wild ancestors of watermelons which are the same species but are bitter and inedible due to substances that have been eliminated from cultivated ones by selective breeding. ---
**Author:** ![MarkyDeSade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@MarkyDeSade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarkyDeSade)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/13 "2002-07-24T22:19:23Z")
Heh heh… Seedbank? Yeah, since the seeds are legal in the UK, they can ship them around without worry. FYI, the packages are very discreet and none of my friends have had any problems ordering. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/14 "2002-07-25T14:34:30Z")
Germination rate is very important with seeds. I saw a tv report once on these seeds & alot of people said that the germination rate was very low, like one in ten. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/15 "2002-07-25T14:37:30Z")
The ones from the head shops are guarenteed, ie you can take them back, and they’re all female. They’re not cheap - Usually about £1-2 each, so they have to be of good quality. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/16 "2002-07-25T23:11:59Z")
They must get them into the US some way as they do (did) legally sell marijuana in SC, California as medical marijuana. I have seen the shops on tv & the pricing boards in the back & its not cheap. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/17 "2002-07-26T01:01:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*They must get them into the US some way as they do (did) legally sell marijuana in SC, California > as medical marijuana. I have seen the shops on tv & the pricing boards in the back & > its not cheap. \*\* I thought the Federal government said that these places are illegal despite the referendums in California and other places. Also marijuana has been cultivated in the US for quite some time so I doubt that seeds needed to be smuggled into the states somehow to enable this pot to be grown. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mail-order-marijuana/120550/18 "2002-07-26T02:34:02Z")
**gazpacho** is correct. States are free to make and enforce their own laws, but those laws don’t override federal law. Marijuana is still a schedule I controlled substance everywhere in the U.S. under the Controlled Substances Act. That means it is illegal to possess marijuana (and viable seeds) under federal law, even with a prescription, unless it’s for legitimate research purposes (which requires DEA and FDA permission). The question has been answered, so I’ll close this thread. Leaving threads like this open after the question has been answered seems to invite tips on how to break the law, which, as I said above, we do not permit. bibliophage moderator GQ