Pot Pollen

Harvest time is coming to the fertile Southwest, and with it one of its biggest cash crops will blossom in fields, along roadsides and in suburban backyard gardens: marijuana. Call the police? Sure, but don't forget the doctor. It turns out that marijuana is no friend to allergy sufferers. Dr. Geraldine Freeman, in a study published by the Western Journal of Medicine, finds that pot pollen may be as irritating to some respiratory systems as ragweed. In a seven-month survey of 129 patients' reactions to various substances, Freeman found that about 50% of those tested showed allergic reactions to marijuana pollen. The villain is the male pot plant. Says Freeman: "Fine pollen is produced by the male plant and released into the environment." The female pot plants? Guiltless. They do not transmit pollen. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.