LIFE'S A DITCH

Want another reason to resent the federal government? How about this: They're spending your hard-earned tax dollars on ditchweed, and you don't even get to sample the goods.(Not that you'd want to anyway, but that's not the point.)

According to the DEA (now there's a name you can trust), in 2003, the agency's Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Supression Program destroyed 247 million marijuana plants, which sounds like an impressive "victory" in the War on Drugs, until you read a bit more closely and discover that 243 million (around 99 percent) of those plants were actually feral hemp. Commonly called ditchweed, the DEA defines feral hemp as "wild, scattered marijuana plants [with] no evidence of planting, fertilizing, or tending," which, unlike cultivated marijuana, contain virtually no detectable levels of THC. Many of these wild hemp plots are descended from the U.S. government-subsidized crops planted during World War II.

- High Times

GARLIC ASPARAGUS with LIME

A delicious vegetable for the highest palate. Recipe by CHEF HERB.

Garlic Asparagus w/ Lime

INGREDIENTS:

1 teaspoon THC butter
1 tablespoon THC olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium shallot, minced
1 bunch fresh asparagus spears, trimmed
1/4 lime, juiced
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
Melt THC butter with THC olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic and shallots, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in asparagus spears: cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Squeeze lime over hot asparagus, and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving plate, and garnish with lime wedges.

EAT IT, WEAR IT, BUT DON'T SMOKE IT

Cannabis sativa L. subspecies sativa variety sativa sounds like some kind of futuristic space-weed, but you wouldn't want to smoke it. That's actually the specific variety of hemp grown legally in Europe, Canada, China and elsewhere around the world for food, fuel, and fiber. Industrial hemp contains only trace amounts of THC (0.3 percent by Canadian standards which means you'd have to ingest a whole field of the stuff in one sitting to get anywhere near the effect found in one joint of today's high-grade grass.