This is an interesting one:  Researchers have found an enormous stash – 789 grams – of high quality herb in a tomb in China.  From the Salem News report on the discovery:

The marijuana is reportedly in very good condition and that is primarily attributed to extremely dry conditions. The team of scientists say the alkaline soil acted as a preservative, and the herb was still green, though it retained none of its typical odor.

Here’s a question:  What’s the legality of this weed?  In order to be consistent, wouldn’t the prohibition regieme of China or the United Nations require that this illicit substance be seized?

Scientists also tried to cultivate some of the cheeb from the seeds discovered in the cache, according to TheStar online:

The 18 researchers, most of them based in China, subjected the cannabis to a battery of tests, including carbon dating and genetic analysis. Scientists also tried to germinate 100 of the seeds found in the cache, without success.

Although we’ve known for a long time that cannabis was one of the first plants cultivated by humans, this is the first scientifically rigorous discovery showing the obvious:  That indeed it was used for its psychoactive purposes dating back to time immemorial.

Legal implications aside for a moment, how does this discovery shift the dialog between cannabis consumers and those who still regard this plant as the devil’s weed?  Believe it or not, there are still white people who deny that cannabis was brought to the ‘new world’ by white people rather than dirty mexicans and of course deny this plant’s absolutely essential role in enabling the development of human culture.

How and where will this contingent respond to this news?