THC as a self defense?

So I'm not that into botony or anything, but I do know that when plants have unique characteristics, it is the result of a unique set of problems it had to overcome. Roses have thorns like armys have weapons, they do it for protection. Some plants are poisonous so animals will be conditioned not to eat them (or die trying).

But what about Cannabis? What possible thing could this plant have needed to overcome, in order to develop the THC necessary to get us all rip-roarin high?

I was talking about this w/ a buddy of mine, and we thought maybe it could be poisonous to eat for some animals... or else if eaten in mass quantity, it'd get them high enough so that they wouldn't do it again (provided they had some sort of Fat in their stomachs)

What do we all think?

lol thats an awesome thought dude im pretty high and i know exactly what you are talking about hahahaha:jointsmile:

I doubt it, doesn't it have to be heated in order to activate and actually get you high? And besides, as shown on these boards, a lot of animals enjoy being high.

I think weed is just stinky, that's its defense mechanism... but it makes poor protection from a stoner on the prowl! :D

lol but many plants are smelly without having an intoxicating effect... infact, a lot of flowers have smell in order to ATTRACT bugs and shit to fly around and pollenate them...

What could it BE!! did the plant grow on land before animals crawled out of the waters? because if that's true, it's like a prediction that some creature will come along one day with the right brain wiring so the THC key will fit in the Brain receptors!

ive researched this before... THC is used as a defence mechanism so wild animals dont eat it, yes they do get high but there ment not to like it so they dont go back. As for us, we like getting poisened! :stoned:

How would they get high from eating it though, when it's such a problem for a lot of stoners to even make a good pot-brownie with a stove, some oil, and some dried herb?

ps, im not at all doubting you, just wondering

because the stomach digests it, then it gets absorbed into the blood stream and then goes to the brain.
the hardest thing with backing dope is not to cook it for too long :)
when i used to back it alot i made it into flap jack cus u can get away with cooking it for ten min

i agree with the THC warning animal off but i think the sticky factor comes into play when trying to catching pollen i duno just a thought

Well... ive read once that the resin produced by the cannabis, which contains THC and another cannabinoids, is in fact a protection for the plant, but a protection from the heat. Thats why the plants from hot areas have a greater amount of THC in it.

o00oooo and a friend of mine did tell me that Feds find big growth of cannabis by observing the temperatures of given parts of foliage, and she mentioned that if they were flying overhead with temperature detectors, they would see that cannabis has a much higher temperature than that of most of its surrounding plant.

INTERESTING!

Thanks to books my school library has on cannabis I learned that THC is used as a sort of defense mechanism, not from animals but other plants.
It gets into the surrounding soil and stops other types of plants besides cannabis from growing

see, who says weed doesn't allow you to learn?

This is a very good thread. I have personally heard the theory on being protected from the heat, but who's to say it wasn't put on the earth specifically for us?

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Originally Posted by horror business

This is a very good thread. I have personally heard the theory on being protected from the heat, but who's to say it wasn't put on the earth specifically for us?

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In order to believe that you have to also believe in a higher power. Not everyone does, so it complicates things.

I just think it's completely awesome that this plant (probably) developed before man, and it just waited for something intelligent enough to (probably accidentally lol) set it on fire.

it's that kind of energy that makes me feel like we are all connected to everything.. that everything is put here for a purpose.. who knows how long marijuana sat there before it was used, but it always (probably) had the potential to be used...

wonder if there's anything else out there with unnoticed potential!

Anyone ever wonder if its protection is for humans to enjoy it? since we love it so much, there is no chance we will ever let it die off. maybe thats the plan all along, to become so valuable to us we will continue to grow it (in massive quantities), and keep the species thriving. also, my thoughs of the plant self defense is that imo,the best chance is it's for insect protection (or possiblly heat, that also sounds likely).
-The thoughts of one high philosopher-

unfortunately it is probably not growing as widely as it used to, before legality came into the picture. we have causes for endangered species, but none for endangered plants. each living thing on this earth is just that, a living thing. in the eyes of Mother Nature, we are no more important than the ant, or the rose, likewise none of those are more important than us. It'd sure be a shame if cannabis died out one day, and Mother Nature stopped getting stoned.

(though with the devout potheads i've encountered on this site alone, i doubt it ever will die out:thumbsup:)

I'd like to believe that instead of a self defense, animals are lured to eat the buds because they make the animal feel good. Thus, they would eat seeds and transfer them back to the soil, to allow another plant to grow.

Just my take :P

Maybe marijuana itself is the higher power? Lets make a church where we worship this holy plant, then claim separation of church and state!

just becuase thc is there doesn't nessicarily meant that was for survival....

that could of just been a side effect....

the resin however, (being that ti's sticky as fuck) could be conditioning to keep bugs and parasites off it (or they get stuck and die)....

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Originally Posted by GraziLovesMary

Maybe marijuana itself is the higher power? Lets make a church where we worship this holy plant, then claim separation of church and state!

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I think it's been tried. The government is full of a bunch of pricks. :(

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Originally Posted by cadmiumblimp

I think it's been tried. The government is full of a bunch of pricks. :(

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yeah it has actually... and the preacher of one of those churches JUST got arrested over it in the past few days..

http://boards.cannabis.com/cannabis-...tribution.html

Well you forgot one big thing, we get the THC in our systems after it has been activated by heat. If you eat it before it has been exposed to heat and activated, it will make you throw up. Since animals just go bite the plant and eat it raw, it makes them throw up. It also stinks, but not to us because we appreciate its scent :).

the resin glands arnt there to kill off bugs. its there to catch pollen from a male cannabis plant. when the female plant really starts to get desperate for some pollen they just grow their buds bigger for a better chance of getting pollenated. as far as thc gos i dont know if that is a defense against animals or what. i have heard one theory that thc is produced by cannabis because they know we like it. and they know if they have something we like, we will take care of them and help them survive.

im not sure that i buy that the plant "knows" we like it.

but a lot of the times i wonder if some other plants have psychoactive properties that only work with other animals that have the proper receptors.... like maybe some animals can't get high off of THC like we can, but maybe we can't get high off of other shit like other animals can.

Catnip, for instance? Cats go nuts for it, but not us...

Ever think that maybe all the other animals are HIGH, just from other plants?

Notice the part where i said theory. very unlikely theory but i think its interesting.

lol totally, i have my theories too, probably none of them are true

im just saying WHAT IF

You are not the first person to think about this. It is well-known that psilocybe mushrooms use psilcybin and psilocin as a self-defense mechanism. I see no reason why THC would be there for any other reason. Really, what is the point of THC other than to scare off predators? Makes sense to me.

As for the argument about how it needs to be heated...
How do you know that applies to all animals? For all we know, different chemical reactions could be happening inside the stomach of an animal. Therefore I think the concept of an animal getting stoned off of just eating it, without applying heat, is plausible.:thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by mfqr

As for the argument about how it needs to be heated...
How do you know that applies to all animals? For all we know, different chemical reactions could be happening inside the stomach of an animal. Therefore I think the concept of an animal getting stoned off of just eating it, without applying heat, is plausible.:thumbsup:

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It doesn't need to be heated. The only reason you can't just eat a bud is because THC doesn't enter the bloodstream very well unless it's in some kind of alcohol or fat, hence the cannabutter.

Weed makes you paranoid but we can deal with it because we know its not real. When an animal gats high the paranoia starts to get to it and they think to themselves, gee, I dont wanna do that again so they stay away from weed.

I believe that there are many reasons for THC. The resin itself I believe is for water retension to protect the developing seeds from drying out in hot dry conditions. The THC in it however, I think has been bred to be more abundent by humans. It probabaly was much weaker in the past. Much like food crops that are and have been bred to produce bigger, tastier, more abundent fuits and vegies.

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Originally Posted by dylan

I believe that there are many reasons for THC. The resin itself I believe is for water retension to protect the developing seeds from drying out in hot dry conditions. The THC in it however, I think has been bred to be more abundent by humans. It probabaly was much weaker in the past. Much like food crops that are and have been bred to produce bigger, tastier, more abundent fuits and vegies.

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Totally

We modern humans have been around at least 140,000 years (likely more) and will have come into contact with this plant on many occassions.

That's plenty of time to select and encourage the good stuff :stoned:

Stone age man was a stoner - be sure :rastasmoke:

Hell yea, that ancient fuckface only created fire to spark his joint!! :S5:

if he were around today, he'd likely say something like "you know in my day we didn't have dealers, we had to go chop that shit down, up hills BOTH ways. and we didn't have this fancy government paper to roll it up in, no, we just rolled it longways in a marijuana leaf. boy, and you think you kids get fucked up" :pimp:

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Originally Posted by vej33

Hell yea, that ancient fuckface only created fire to spark his joint!! :S5:

if he were around today, he'd likely say something like "you know in my day we didn't have dealers, we had to go chop that shit down, up hills BOTH ways. and we didn't have this fancy government paper to roll it up in, no, we just rolled it longways in a marijuana leaf. boy, and you think you kids get fucked up" :pimp:

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ROFLMAO! :S2:

alot of plants have clever methods for spreading seeds. i think the bud is there once seeded, and laced with thc to be eaten, by birds badgers beaver, whatever. then once they ingest it and it begins to be absorbed it disagrees with them, as it is a posion after all. so then the animal now some where else throws up or shits its self, containing the seed.

this will provide moisture and fertilisation for germination and to allow the seeds to spread.