There are many plants that can be healing or poisonous, depending. Many years ago, before I had dogs and hounds that would nibble just about anything, I had a little "poison garden" near my herb garden. It struck me that just as plants can be health-giving or death-dealing so, too, are there many things in our modern life that I can say the same thing about. And there you have the idea behind "The Poison Garden" Series. Free Spirit was my co-conspirator in this continuation of “The Poison Garden.” The plant she is interacting with is Cannabis sativa—known ‘round these parts as either marijuana or hemp (same plant, different levels of THC—the cannabinoid that brings euphoria and the munchies). Many of my friends from this part of the world have relatives who remember growing cannabis for “The War Effort” in the 1940s, but the US government began restricting and labeling cannabis as a poison starting in 1906. The two main cannabinoids from the marijuana plant that are of medical interest are THC and CBD. THC can increase appetite and reduce nausea. THC may also decrease pain, inflammation (swelling and redness), and muscle control problems. Unlike THC, CBD is a cannabinoid that doesn't make people "high." It may be useful in reducing pain and inflammation, controlling epileptic seizures, and possibly even treating mental illness and addictions. Unlike the other two plants I’ve presented in this series so far (foxglove and opium poppy), this plant is unlikely to outright kill ya’. Yet it is treated in our society like a dangerous poison and—as everyone knows these days—even the production of non-THC rich varieties grown for industrial crops is (at best) highly regulated. We took these photos at a local farm, which is growing cannabis for hemp seed. Kentucky is engaging in pilot growing projects and cannabis cultivation may be a huge (legal) cash crop in Kentucky’s future. All parts of the plant are useful—hemp can be processed into more than 25,000 products, including rope, linens, food and personal-care products. I have paired Cannabis sativa with prescription medications as this photo's theme. At present, the government regulates both. There’s nothing inherently wrong with prescription medicine. Many medicines are developed from plants. But our society, more and more these days, leans into the health-giving or death-dealing poisons that come in orange bottles, and those wish prescription pads are pretty damned lax, in my opinion, in dishing out another ‘scrip, with little thought about the ‘scrips they’ve dished before. Most of the older folks I know are on an unholy cocktail of “legal”, non-criminalized drugs. These combinations of medicines inevitably lead to side-effect piled on side-effect and the overall result, time and again, is harm to the one seeking healing. I’d like to see more of a conversation in our society about turning away from the orange bottles and toward the sensitive, informed use of medicinal plants. Root medicine, herb medicine…tinctures and teas…inclusion of health giving plant foods in diet—these are all far saner methods of keeping in good health. This photograph is an invitation to that conversation. PHOTO: "The Poison Garden: Cannabis sativa (1)" MODEL: Free Spirit LOCATION ASSISTANCE: Victory Hemp Foods and Guinevere Milewski PROP-TOTING and CAMARADERIE: Ron Whitehead PROP ASSISTANCE: Jack Nokes and Angie Rice Vittitow