Saturday, May 5, 2012

Weeds

It's kind of rare that we come across anything that gives us a good laugh nowadays, but yesterday was definitely one for the books. A pair of our two-man scout teams were way out in the boonies looking for fuel when they saw this bright green patch of plants in an otherwise dying wooded area. Thinking it might be something edible, they went to check it out. 

It was pot. A truly ludicrous amount of it. 

It makes sense. Kentucky has always been one of the higher domestic producers of marijuana, and growing up here it always seemed strange to me that when I went back home to Illinois to visit, there weren't a lot of people smoking. It was just a thing a lot of folks here did, like eating hamburgers or playing golf. That being the case, a lot of people grew it until the zombie plague came and brought The Fall with it. 

Thinking about it, I'm kind of surprised we haven't run into this before. Cannabis is a plant, after all. People grew it. Once the undead ran off or killed people, the crops were left untended. They're tough plants that can grow just about anywhere, with little need of outside help. They really are weeds. 

We had the scouts mark the location. There aren't any pharmaceutical companies anymore, so we have to get medicines where we can find them. THC isn't anyone's first choice for a painkiller, but there are lots of other things the drug does pretty well. Will would rather not have a bunch of stoned guards on duty, so for the time being we're earmarking it solely for medical use. Evans and Phil apparently have extensive expertise in this area, and yes, they said that with a straight face. 

I know there was some research being done just before The Fall about the effect of cannabinoids on the growth of tumors and the spread of cancer, and Phil's an Oncologist. So maybe that's legit. He claims to know a bunch of things THC is good for, which is great news if true. I don't know much about it myself. The last time I tried it was college, and the experience wasn't all that captivating for me. 

But if it can help people, we'll use it. 

I'm a little disappointed that we don't have any hemp seeds. The major difference between the two is that hemp has stronger and more versatile fibers, capable of making many items. The whole hemp plant is useful to no end, but we haven't been able to grow any. The marijuana plant just doesn't have the same utility, sadly. Ah, well. We can hold out hope that we'll come across some abandoned home eventually, stocked to the gills with smuggled hemp seeds. It would be nice to be able to make things from a renewable supply of material, but we aren't going to count on it. 

Still, this is a nice surprise. Funny when you think about what this kind of discovery would be like in a world still functioning under the old laws and ways of thinking. I've never been one of those people who were gung-ho on legalizing pot, but I never quite understood why some drugs were outlawed while others weren't. Just kind of makes me scratch my head. It's not like the stuff is crystal meth or heroin, you know? People are strange. 

Perspective matters, though. What was once a controversial if popular recreational drug (and sometime legally prescribed narcotic) is now a reasonably effective medicine that has a host of uses. Now, if we can just find a functional oil refinery sitting on top of its own oil well, we'll be set. None of us are really holding our breath for that. 

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