World's oldest marijuana stash totally busted
Two pounds of still-green weed found in a 2,700-year-old Gobi Desert grave
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28034925/


Nearly two pounds of still-green plant material found in a 2,700-year-old grave in the Gobi Desert has just been identified as the world's oldest marijuana stash, according to a paper in the latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany.

A barrage of tests proves the marijuana possessed potent psychoactive properties and casts doubt on the theory that the ancients only grew the plant for hemp in order to make clothing, rope and other objects.
They apparently were getting high too.

Lead author Ethan Russo told Discovery News that the marijuana "is quite similar" to what's grown today.

"We know from both the chemical analysis and genetics that it could produce THC (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase, the main psychoactive chemical in the plant)," he explained, adding that no one could feel its effects today, due to decomposition over the millennia.

Russo served as a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Botany while conducting the study. He and his international team analyzed the cannabis, which was excavated at the Yanghai Tombs near Turpan, China. It was found lightly pounded in a wooden bowl in a leather basket near the head of a blue-eyed Caucasian man who died when he was about 45.

"This individual was buried with an unusual number of high value, rare items," Russo said, mentioning that the objects included a make-up bag, bridles, pots, archery equipment and a kongou harp. The researchers believe the individual was a shaman from the Gushi people, who spoke a now-extinct language called Tocharian that was similar to Celtic.

Scientists originally thought the plant material in the grave was coriander, but microscopic botanical analysis of the bowl contents, along with genetic testing, revealed that it was cannabis. The size of seeds mixed in with the leaves, along with their color and other characteristics, indicate the marijuana came from a cultivated strain. Before the burial, someone had carefully picked out all of the male plant parts, which are less psychoactive, so Russo and his team believe there is little doubt as to why the cannabis was grown.

What is in question, however, is how the marijuana was administered, since no pipes or other objects associated with smoking were found in the grave.
"Perhaps it was ingested orally," Russo said. "It might also have been fumigated, as the Scythian tribes to the north did subsequently."

Although other cultures in the area used hemp to make various goods as early as 7,000 years ago, additional tomb finds indicate the Gushi fabricated their clothing from wool and made their rope out of reed fibers. The scientists are unsure if the marijuana was grown for more spiritual or medical purposes, but it's evident that the blue-eyed man was buried with a lot of it. "As with other grave goods, it was traditional to place items needed for the afterlife in the tomb with the departed," Russo said.

The ancient marijuana stash is now housed at Turpan Museum in China. In the future, Russo hopes to conduct further research at the Yanghai site, which has 2,000 other tombs.

XxAxX said:

I'll bet he does.

Dewrede said:

he explained, adding that no one could feel its effects today, due to decomposition over the millennia

"...so I'll just take it back to my office..."

good to know.

TRON said:

Yeah. Cro-magnon slackers.

oh really...



I didn't know they had Hydro 2700 years ago...

HamsterHuey said:

Somehow, it rarely had that effect on me. I tend to stay up all night and get tons done.

The question is; "Do you tip your dealer?"

TRON said:

If you clean also you can come smoke a spliff at my place.

RenHoek said:

so they lie when they say that the stuff we have now is hundreds of times more potent than the stuff they had then.

HamsterHuey said:

Mars23 said:

celtic??!! whoa.

how'd he end up in china ? how'd he get that lost ??

XxAxX said:

no dear...lost is just fiction.

BlackAdder7 said:

TRON said:

It makes me very alert and detail oriented. It's a sure helper if I want to get up and clean the whole house.

http://prince.org/msg/100/290762

(an expert on marijuana restoration)

FunkMistress said:

I think that means that you're invited to HamsterHuey's house...

HamsterHuey said:

RenHoek said:

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Just another job for me

FunkMistress said:

i really think it should be at least de criminalized, if not legalized. this 'war on drugs' isn't working, just look at the mexican cartels and what is happening in tijauna.
those guys are not going to stop, because they are supplying a demand.

which is why IF you all smoke/use please buy locally grown*.

thank you, that is all



*the foregoing is not to be construed as an admission of use, nor exortation thereto, and in no way indicates support for the violent drug wars occurring in various parts of the world.

XxAxX said:

Mexico is cocaine, meth, and ecstacy since U.S. law enforcement efforts have moved meth and ecstacy production south of the border to be reimported.

I'm sure marijuana is for starters and free lancers. It's a lot bulkier had much more odiferous than the others.

Being in California, I think most is local, plenty of coastal greenery to hide in.

SUPRMAN said:

it's not that i don't appreciate your expertise on every single topic up in here but, i do remember reading about the several tons of pot seized in san diego recently.

XxAxX said:

I'm not saying that it isn't being brought in but let's say I don't know anyone who smokes it. So that may be a hole in my expertise.


Just posted the following article which happened last night apparently.

So it may be that's where they are dumping it or being caught.

I wonder if it's for Cali or transshipment? I've always thought of California as being largely self-sufficient in that regard and imports were for variety.
(Canada, Hawaii, etc)
[Edited 12/4/08 10:48am]

By Jia-Rui Chong
2:06 PM PST, November 20, 2008
In one of the largest marijuana seizures in U.S. Coast Guard history, a cutter scooped up nearly 10,000 pounds of marijuana thrown overboard by a speedboat off the coast of Baja California earlier this week.

The marijuana, which was wrapped up in 137 steamer-trunk-sized bales, had an estimated street value of $32 million, said Lt. Kristopher Ensley, the commander of the cutter that recovered the drugs.

It was "a huge bust," Ensley said Thursday. "My whole crew is joking that we're the reason a dime bag is now being called a quarter bag."

The cutter Narwhal, based in Newport Beach, was patrolling international waters about 100 miles off the coast of San Diego when it saw the speedboat on its radar screen late Sunday afternoon, Ensley said. The Narwhal began tailing the boat as it headed north toward the U.S. and noticed that it sped up when the sun went down. The boat, which was about 30-feet long, open-hulled and low to the water, also did not have any lights, the Coast Guard said.

Ensley said the Narwhal called out to the boat to stop around 7:30 p.m. The boat took off in the direction of Mexico, and its crew -- made up of about four people -- started jettisoning the drug cargo in the ocean, leaving a trail of bobbing bales about four miles long, Ensley said.

Narwhal chased the boat, but it had moved into Mexico's waters by about 8 p.m. Ensley then turned the case over to the Mexican Navy and headed back for the marijuana.

Working through the night with night-vision goggles, flares and spotlights, the Narwhal's crew recovered 136 bales. A helicopter found one more Monday morning. That afternoon, Ensley turned the drugs over to a federal narcotics task force in San Diego, which is investigating the case. The bales tested positive for marijuana.

The haul on Monday dwarfed Ensley's other recent marijuana recovery in the same area in September, when he picked up about 330 pounds. The Narwhal's seizure also added up to nearly half the amount seized by the Coast Guard from October 2007 to September 2008.

Cocaine busts are more common for the Coast Guard. During that same period from 2007 to 2008, Coast Guard crews collected about 170,000 pounds of cocaine.

The Coast Guard's last two sizable drug busts occurred in September, when the agency, aided by the U.S. Navy, seized two semi-submersible vessels en route from South America to the U.S., off the coast of Guatemala. Each of those vessels was carrying more than 200 bales -- or about seven tons -- of cocaine.

Chong is a Times staff writer.

jia-rui.chong@latimes.com

----
[Edited 12/4/08 12:31pm]

This is a great story, theres been a lot of attention on mummies found in Turpan (China), the dry and cool conditions have preserved them and therte were several caucasian looking ones there, but finding marijuana wow. People have probably known about therapeutic plants since hominid times, they believe ancient marijuana may have been smoked in Rome, Egypt and even Iron Age Europe.

Still dosen't mean its good, drugs are bad, don't smoke them, Prince dosent