Amidst the crisis of global warming and the significant changes caused by it in the climate of the United States, there is a boon. Scientists and general populous have been debating for centuries about the effects of climate change on regular crops, but does climate change affect the nation’s favourite crop?
Summers are getting hotter and there is water shortage. This has led to destruction of numerous crops, but cannabis on the other hand thrives in water shortages and conditions with excess CO2 present. For cannabis, commonly known as marijuana or weed, these conditions are not just ideal, but potent too. These conditions have proved to improve the marijuana farming producing strong marijuana. In the world dominated by climate change, weed will survive scarce conditions with ease.
Tetahydrocannabinol (THC) produced by the plant as a pest repellent is the main ingredient that gives marijuana its psychotropic properties. As the plant endures more stress during drought conditions, it produces more THC, ultimately making weed stronger. One of the strongest THC in the world comes from Afghan Kush that grows on the mountains in the outskirts of Afghanistan. It has grown to be the strongest because of such harsh conditions.
Plant Physiologists with the US Dept. of Agriculture like Lewis Ziska and Ethno-Botanists like Jamse Duke show in their research that these drought conditions and increased CO2 would tremendously benefit the plants’ medicinal properties. Ziska’s research showed how levels of CO2 in the atmosphere would benefit most plants including weed.
In this climate change apocalypse, weed is definitely the best drug, which thrives on increased CO2 levels, becomes stronger as the nation fights with heat and faces drought conditions, like a professional.
We are unknowingly helping cannabis strengthen its psychotropic abilities by our unmitigated consumption of fossil fuels, which increase the CO2 emissions drastically. For now, cannabis is getting stronger, but it is possible that with more and more global warming and us being on the verge of exhausting water supply on the planet, even weed won’t be able to survive such a catastrophe.
All in all, climate change does affect weed growth as it does all other things on this planet, but fortunately weed thrives in these situations. However, as mentioned earlier, the reduction of these water sources would make it more difficult to grow weed. The climate change effects will continue to worsen if there are no efforts to combat them. More efficient and environment-friendly policies are needed to be formed to combat this problem of global warming or else there would be no crop to debate on.
