# Marijuana growing wild **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2000, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693 "2000-10-04T22:53:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bigneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6f9a4e/32.png) [@bigneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigneck)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2000, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/1 "2000-10-04T22:53:37Z")
Does Marijuana grow naturally in the wild anywhere in the US? If so, and it’s on your land, are you legally liable? ---
**Author:** ![bigneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6f9a4e/32.png) [@bigneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigneck)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2000, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/2 "2000-10-04T22:55:31Z")
Also, what parts of the US were, or are, native to wild marijuana growth? ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2000, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/3 "2000-10-04T23:05:31Z")
I suppose it could depend on your definition of marijuana. I’ve never seen any growing wild but I’ve heard (possible UL, but I doubt it) it’s not _that_ uncommon in the midwest. However, it’s really just wild hemp. In other words, I really don’t think it would have enough THC to give you even a slight buzz. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2000, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/4 "2000-10-04T23:05:38Z")
Hemp does. Mostly in the Midwest, IIRC. I’ve heard of at least one person who got busted for pot that he didn’t know was on his property. Turns out he was also a pot smoker, which didn’t bode well for him. He got off, though, when cops compared weed that they found in his house with the stuff outside and realized that they were two different strains. ---
**Author:** ![Sequent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Sequent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sequent)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/5 "2000-10-05T00:16:15Z")
It is hemp, which is not exactly the same as marijuana. From a botannical perspective, it’s the same creature, but from the drug user or law enforcement perspective, they’re two different things: mainly, because wild hemp, or at least the majority of it, won’t get you high. The THC content is very low, as opposed to commercial grade marijuana, which has a very high (snicker) THC content. It does indeed grow all over the place around here (midwest); it can be found mainly near streams and in ditches, and along the side of the road (hence the term “ditchweed”). Time was when it was grown legally as a crop. First they banned it, then they tried to eradicate it, but the plant persists. I’ve heard rumours that certain “potent” strains grow wild, but all the, er, credible accounts I’ve heard suggest that it does not. ---
**Author:** ![retsin2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@retsin2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/retsin2000)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/6 "2000-10-05T00:18:23Z")
Hemp grows wild all over the place. I believe that hemp is not a native species and that it is here because it was a completely legal crop for most of U.S. history. I have seen it growing wild in several midwest states. There was an effort to encourage greater hemp production during WWII which produced a propaganda film called Hemp for Victory. There was a Civil War battle fought here in Missouri called the Battle of the Hemp Bales. I also saw hemp growing wild next to the great wall of China. ---
**Author:** ![bigneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6f9a4e/32.png) [@bigneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigneck)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/7 "2000-10-05T00:52:17Z")
OK. Hemp, hemp, hemp. How does hemp become the marijuana that people smoke to get high? Does it? I guess a better question would be where does, or did, the pot that people smoke grow? I know the really crazy good pot comes from fancy growing techniques that we have developed over the years, but what about the original stuff? The stuff that the Native Americans smoked? They weren’t just smoking hemp, were they? It must have been around here somewhere. Right? ---
**Author:** ![Bobort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bobort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobort)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/8 "2000-10-05T00:59:39Z")
Modern high-THC marijuana is the result of breeding. There exist a small number of wild hemp plants with enough THC to get you high (the cannabinoids serve some biological purpose, but I don’t think there’s much agreement as to what). Once people found that out, they (eventually) started growing it. People plant the seeds from the females that got them the highest, and so over time the strains grown for consumption were selected in favor of THC content. Evolution at work. ---
**Author:** ![sk8rixtx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sk8rixtx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sk8rixtx)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/9 "2000-10-05T01:18:33Z")
Marijuana grows in sewers in some parts of New York. Its called New York White. It’s bleaced white from lack of sunlight, or atleast thats what I read in the Anarchist’s Cookbook. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/10 "2000-10-05T01:28:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Modern high-THC marijuana is the result of breeding. And the legal low-THC hemp they grow in my country is being bred in the exact opposite direction. Mind you, you still have to go through unbelievable paperwork to get the license to grow it. See, for example, the [industrial hemp info pages](http://www.OntarioHempAlliance.org/info.htm) of the [Ontario Hemp Alliance](http://www.OntarioHempAlliance.org/). ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/11 "2000-10-05T04:28:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Marijuana grows in sewers in some parts of New York. Its called New York White. It’s bleaced white from lack of sunlight, or atleast thats what I read in the Anarchist’s Cookbook. You posted that as a joke, right? If not, you need to do some serious reading on photosynthesis. I believe it was covered in 4th grade science class. In short, plants need light to grow. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/12 "2000-10-05T04:42:56Z")
> [@](#): > > …In short, plants need light to grow. But wouldn’t they get enough light from the giant radioactive glow-in-the-dark alligators? ---
**Author:** ![Sequent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Sequent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sequent)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/13 "2000-10-05T04:50:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cabbage \* > \*\*But wouldn’t they get enough light from the giant radioactive glow-in-the-dark alligators? \*\* Dude. Stay away from the neon bud, man. ---
**Author:** ![Grendel69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7bcc69/32.png) [@Grendel69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grendel69)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/14 "2000-10-05T04:55:15Z")
Uhhh if you’re reading the Cookbook from an online source I would trust it about as much as you can shove it you my clenched anus. Half of the info contained in that book is purportedly inaccurate. Bake at your own disgression. ---
**Author:** ![Grendel69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7bcc69/32.png) [@Grendel69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grendel69)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/15 "2000-10-05T04:56:29Z")
I never thought I would actually type this but…that should read “as you can shove it up my clenched anus.” ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-growing-wild/35693/16 "2000-10-05T05:13:38Z")
The print version wasn’t terribly accurate either.