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City's Weed is Going Wild, Man


By

Jaya Saxena

Published Jul 24, 2010

Modified Jul 24, 2010


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A marijuana plant growing in Union Square park.

 

Rachel Pincus/Gothamist


By

Jaya Saxena

Published Jul 24, 2010

Modified Jul 24, 2010


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After our hard-hitting expose on the sprouting marijuana garden in Union Square (and after that plant was subsequently cashed), New Yorkers have begun noticing other plants popping up around the city—some growing from between the sidewalk cracks! A tipster sent NYC the Blog a shot of this peppy plant growing on 1st Street and 2nd Avenue, and other plants have been seen all the way out in Ditmas Park. So what's going on?

The Daily News questions whether there's a "Johnny Appleweed" somewhere in the city, spreading the love to anyone wanting to pick and dry their own stash. But local pot dealer (thanks for the tip, News!) Thomas Walker said of the LES crop, "It looks like amateur weed to me. No one's put any love into it." But that hasn't stopped people from trying to harvest. Anthony Goggard said, "You don't see it if you're not looking right at it. From now on, I'm going to have to start paying a lot closer attention."

While many say it could just be the product of random seeds falling and sprouting after people break up their pot, others think the citywide crops could be part of a larger movement. Danny Danko, senior cultivation editor for High Times magazine, said, "When it's a string of incidents in public places, it might have more to do with a protest idea. People have discussed kind of 'overgrowing' the government." Danko previously told us that the Union Square plant "absolutely is cannabis sativa," but Walker said he couldn't confirm that the LES plant was actually pot. Who's ready to conduct a test? It's for science!

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