Monday, Jul. 18, 1983

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.