Stoners stoked about drought-potent marijuana crop in California

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Stoners just may find the green lining in California's record drought. Scientists believe the dry conditions and global warming is likely boosting the potency of pot crops.

When plants are stressed, which is the case during a drought, they tend to express more of their "medicinal" and psychoactive properties, say experts.

"Something we learned in the garden is that the more stress a plant gets the more medicinal and less edible it becomes," retired USDA ethno-botanist James Dukes tells The Daily Climate. Stress tends to convert proteins, carbohydrates and fats into secondary metabolites that protect the plant.

Marijuana doesn't produce psychotropic compounds such as THC just so people can smoke it, explained Lewis Ziska, a plant physiologist with the US Department of Agriculture. It's supposed to be a pest repellent. "Plants aren't mobile, they can't get up and move around," notes Ziska, "so they have to produce...

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URL: 
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/dude-stoners-stoked-about-drought-potent-marijuana-crop-california-1501564