Sensible Erection | Researchers find oldest-ever stash of marijuana.

Sunday, 30 November 2008

Researchers find oldest-ever stash of marijuana.

quote [ The 18 researchers, most of them based in China, subjected the cannabis to a battery of tests, including carbon dating and genetic analysis. Scientists also tried to germinate 100 of the seeds found in the cache, without success. ]

Link to article published in the Journal of Experimental Botany below...

http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/59/15/4171

[sci&tech] [by clumsy_juggler@12:36amGMT] [+10 Interesting]

Comments

i5524168957340 said @ 12:40am GMT on 30th Nov
this guy was buried with 7 pounds of pot wow, also i have to wonder if any of the people involved tried smoking it.

dominion236 said @ 9:34am GMT on 30th Nov
Certainly.

They
- tested its THC content, dispite considerable difficulty cutting through the red tape
- were able to determine it was grown for the high rather than for hemp fiber or oil
- they tried to germinate the seeds

If these aren't stoners, then hell's frozen over

Asscheeks Akimbo said @ 12:46am GMT on 30th Nov [Score:1 Funny]
10 bucks says he's evidence of time travel.

eddiebax said @ 12:50am GMT on 30th Nov
I think it's my little brother...

KropperPrime said @ 1:18am GMT on 30th Nov
Could be one of us.

MelloHippo said @ 12:48am GMT on 30th Nov [Score:1 Insightful]
I'd like to see the thc concentration of this batch versus fresh weed. Everyone always makes such a bitch about how these days weed is like 50x stronger than it was in even the 60s, I just don't believe it.

dangerm00se said @ 1:35am GMT on 30th Nov
the tetrahydrocannabinol might have degraded over time, might be this sativa has no thc or even never did.

dangerm00se said @ 1:36am GMT on 30th Nov
or maybe i should actually read the article. hurr.

klingon_fodder said @ 3:20am GMT on 30th Nov [Score:1 Insightful]
Hey, What's That? What is the guy holding the bong reading? Instructions? A manual? A note?

Baxter_UK said @ 10:45am GMT on 30th Nov
So many questions.

wyckedfae said @ 8:54pm GMT on 2nd Dec
The question marks are so curvy...

/fap

CamelCash said @ 2:09am GMT on 30th Nov
I believe weed is more potent today (like 2X-3X tops) BUT apply this logic to booze and you'll see why it makes no sense. Just because we had beer and then one day people made whiskey doesn't mean people get drunker or less drunk. Just means you can do it faster and maybe die if your an idiot. You can't OD on weed, you just fall asleep....oh noes...not sleep...the troubles! so theres really no down side except for maybe less carcinogynies in your lungs if you smoke weed.

I believe this argument was put in place to try and seperate older people from younger people on the issue of drugs

leswilkerson said @ 3:37am GMT on 30th Nov
I can assure you I have died on at least two or three occasions while I was stoned out of my mind. One time I actually made it to heaven and chatted with Buddha.

swiggy said @ 6:12am GMT on 30th Nov

cardinal said @ 3:51am GMT on 30th Nov
The weed I smoke in South Africa is probably quite similar to what they smoked back then, as in, straight out of the ground, not in a lab, as apposed to the weed I smoke in Amsterdam, which is very obviously lab grown.

Both get me -around- as stoned, the only difference is in SA, I'd smoke two or three joints, while in Amsterdam, I'd smoke maybe half a joint. That and the weed hangover from the Amsterdam stuff is pure death. I haven't tried the medical marijuana here in California yet but I suspect it's the same as the Amsterdam stuff.

If a bunch of people (growers) get together and say "Let's make really strong weed!" then they're going to make really strong weed, but it's just the same high, concentrated, rather than an equivalent of acid or magic mushrooms.

Completely agree with you.

TStryker said @ 4:06am GMT on 30th Nov
Yeah, when I was studying abroad down there a friend of mine brought over a plant that he pulled out of the ground on the side of the road. I didn't end up smoking it, but I'm sure it was terrible. I was also friends with this girl that grew, she had a sun room/grow room and the plant had hit the ceiling already. That stuff was on par with the heady stuff I got my hands on in America for around 50-60 and eighth. I know you guys call em bankies! Man, I miss that place!

cardinal said @ 4:09am GMT on 30th Nov
Yeah 'bankies' because we buy in bank bags, size wise :)

Fenny said @ 7:26am GMT on 30th Nov
Or bricks ;)

A friend of mine asked me to drive him into Beam camp to procure supplies. He came back walking quickly out of the double story shack (the only one in the area, painted bright pink) with a huge smile and a brick in a shopping bag. Turns out the rasta dealer was feeling benevolent to his frequent customers and was overwhlemed by the quality of a very large recent shipment.

ring riot said @ 12:53am GMT on 30th Nov [Score:2 Insightful]
The 18 researchers, most of them based in China, subjected the cannabis to a battery of tests...

Oh, I'll bet they did.

Nostrildamus said @ 3:15am GMT on 30th Nov
I have a theory that cannabis is a human symbiont. Or symbiote, if you prefer.

klingon_fodder said @ 3:19am GMT on 30th Nov
and your evidence is... ???

max_damage78 said @ 3:27am GMT on 30th Nov
Tel'c was a pot head?

Nostrildamus said @ 4:02am GMT on 30th Nov [Score:3 Interesting]
That THC only works on primate brains.

That cannabis is not spread by animal pollination or seed eating. It pitches itself solely at the primate brain in order to attain its seed spread.

Every major ancient civilisation that used cannabis developed art, culture, trade, animal husbandry, and technology such as the wheel. Civs that did not have cannabis, like the Meso-Americans, did not develop the wheel, and did not develop stable cultures. Meso-American civs were in constant upheaval and vacillated from boom to collapse for centuries, long before contact with the Old World, whereas Old World cultures maintained stability for thousands of years.

In return for beneficial alteration of chemistry in the primate brain, cannabis receives a wider spread and cultivation, ensuring survival of the plant species.

jimnasty said @ 4:29am GMT on 30th Nov
this needs some sort of chart separating civilizations by cannabis use...

chard said @ 5:48am GMT on 30th Nov
That sounds like a good research project.

jimnasty said @ 7:04am GMT on 30th Nov
think i could get university funding for that?

-_- said @ 1:11am GMT on 1st Dec
Probably, Humbolt Ca has a University ;)

chard said @ 4:41pm GMT on 1st Dec
So does La Verne CA but I wouldn't submit a grant app there.

leswilkerson said @ 4:53am GMT on 30th Nov
The only thing that would have made that comment any more enlightening would be if I were actually high right now.

Perhaps the most insightful comment I've read around these parts. Kudos.

chard said @ 5:40am GMT on 30th Nov
Insightful but wrong.

3bop said @ 6:07am GMT on 30th Nov
Nostrildamus has a solid defense. I await your rebuttal.

chard said @ 4:10pm GMT on 1st Dec
Rebuttal? As in, Internet Debate?

I noted that at least some of N's points are factually incorrect. The point about development of civilizations is speculative at least. I would refer the curious to relevant works by Marvin Harris and Richard Schultes. I would like to know N's info source. That is all. Uh oh, it's time to reboot...

chard said @ 5:31am GMT on 30th Nov [Score:4 Underrated]
That THC only works on primate brains.

Wrong. Haven't you ever gotten a kitten stoned? Songbirds get off on hemp seeds, singing more elaborate songs; that's why the inclusion in bird feeds. Horses and cattle forage on wild Cannabis, and show effects.

That cannabis is not spread by animal pollination or seed eating. It pitches itself solely at the primate brain in order to attain its seed spread.

Wrong. The WikiPedia entry sez, "All known strains of Cannabis are wind-pollinated". The wild strains of Cannabis proliferate by non-human means; it's called, going native. You really should do some research before spewing.

chard said @ 5:39am GMT on 30th Nov
And the boom-bust cycles of native cultures in the Americas had much more to do with the lack of large herd and prey animals, than with the absence of Cannabis. Old Worlders had only a very few consciousness-altering drugs available - cannabis, alcohol, a couple solanaceous alkaloids (datura, etc), opium, some mushrooms, and not much else. New Worlders used hundreds of mind-bending plants. Wherever did you get your bogus notions?

RoboRonnie said @ 5:57am GMT on 30th Nov
don't mind him, he was on Ayajuasca

Nostrildamus said @ 5:57am GMT on 30th Nov
The idea has nothing to do with the use of 'mind-bending' plants, it has to do with the specific effects of THC.

Old World cultures had access to *thousands* of naturally occurring drugs, as a matter of fact, there are hundreds of strains of hallucinogenic mushroom alone in the old world.

It is you who should do some more research, and by that I do not mean getting your kitten stoned, which is hardly scientific.

Nostrildamus said @ 5:55am GMT on 30th Nov
no, you're incorrect. Only the primate brain responds specifically to THC. Animals that ingest cannabis *do* react to other compounds in the plant, but not to the primary chemical that creates the response in primate brains. They can't, because they lack the receptor cells for THC.

Yes, cannabis is wind pollinated, I should not have used that word. However, the seeds are reliant upon simply falling on the ground to attain spread. Obviously the plant benefits from human use, as the seeds are not only spread wider by human use, but humans actively cultivate the plant.

It's origin is in the India/Himalaya border IIRC, and due to human cultivation it has spread worldwide.

ComposerNate said @ 11:01am GMT on 30th Nov
+1 Informative, except for the last dick-in-ear sentence.

throwout01 said @ 5:34am GMT on 30th Nov
except a) the idea that no animals eat cannabis seeds besides primates is dubious at best
and b) the correlation between "stable" cultures and cannabis use is just as likely (if not more) the other way around, ie. the more stable the culture, the more likely the use of recreational drugs. after all, if you're not working as hard to sustain yourself, you have time to sit around high

J-Loser said @ 6:47am GMT on 30th Nov [Score:1 Insightful]
Try "Every major ancient civilisation developed art, culture, trade, animal husbandry, and technology such as the wheel." Jesus, try even a little logic.

spite48 said @ 4:35am GMT on 30th Nov [Score:1 Funny]
See, that's why pot is bad. It leads to high social status and death

googirl0007 said @ 5:19am GMT on 30th Nov
quality reporting from the CBC as always

Jewbacchus said @ 6:31am GMT on 30th Nov

Baxter_UK said @ 10:53am GMT on 30th Nov
Weed is boring. Get over it already.

CamelCash said @ 2:43pm GMT on 30th Nov
yeah but I haven't fond good acid in years...so its weed or bust!

Baxter_UK said @ 2:54pm GMT on 30th Nov
... so it's weed or productivity!

CamelCash said @ 3:12pm GMT on 30th Nov
I'd rather giggle like a fool than be productive for some company any day

Baxter_UK said @ 4:56pm GMT on 30th Nov
Well, I wasn't talking about working for a company. It's a sad state of affairs if all you think a person can produce is labour for a Company. And it was largely a facetious comment, anyway. I just happen to find weed boring, is all.

CamelCash said @ 6:10pm GMT on 30th Nov
I just felt like being a dick :P The 'productivity' comment just reminded me of my job right now....they tried to block gmail so we could be more 'productive'...but I found an AU proxy so fuck'em :)

I agree weed can be boring and so can booze, I tend to switch every two years or so (or when one starts to become boring) to keep them interesting

spite48 said @ 9:37pm GMT on 30th Nov
I think weed affects different people differently. I've never found it boring, but you are not the first person I've heard express a sentiment that the effects were not as all-encompassing as they are for me.

wyckedfae said @ 9:54pm GMT on 2nd Dec [Score:1 Insightful]
Weed doesn't entertain me by itself, but it certainly makes everything else entertaining. Even the stuff I do to be "productive".

Dantron said @ 8:39pm GMT on 30th Nov [Score:1 Interesting]
if i die and then they bury me with the things i used in this life

"chines scientists find tomb full of porn, pot,......."