The truth about Mary Jane

Doug Ewing doesn't smirk as he discusses one of the UW's most intriguing and rampant rumors. He doesn't glance away, nor does he give a knowing wink after revealing the facts behind all the hearsay, because Ewing is telling the truth about the UW's history of growing medicinal marijuana:

It's over.

Ewing, manager of the botany greenhouse, says although the greenhouse used to grow cannabis in its medicinal-herb garden, it hasn't since at least the early 1960s.

Still, many who have heard the myth that the UW still grows medicinal marijuana believe it to be true; and each year, about 10 people arrive at the greenhouse unannounced, asking to see the cannabis. Ewing senses that many are not UW students and while he believes most inquirers ask only to fulfill their curiosity, he feels that others may have alternative motives.

"There have been some people who have come in and asked (about the rumored marijuana) who, from their appearance, lead me to believe that they certainly weren't dressing that day to instill confidence in me in their legitimate need or desire for this information," Ewing says. "Let me say it that way."

Elsewhere on campus, the myth is far less pervasive.

Fred Hoyt, manager of the Center for Urban Horticulture's greenhouse, does not recall ever fielding the sorts of marijuana-related questions asked of Ewing, although he says his students have joked that selling home-grown marijuana would help lower tuition.

Ewing's students sometimes raise the topic of marijuana as well, inquiring whether the herb garden grows it at all. They ask, Ewing says, simply to learn how the garden could possibly farm an illegal substance with so few safeguards against cannabis-crazed thieves.

"I don't know where they would keep it, because it's not a very secure area," says junior Min Ken Chen, lab assistant to botany/zoology professor Toby Bradshaw.

Of those who believe the greenhouse in fact does grow marijuana, some have heard the alleged plants are an exceptionally potent form of cannabis, which Ewing says is "just kind of a wrinkle on the myth."

Another appendage to the rumor is that, in addition to marijuana, the greenhouse also cultivates peyote, a hallucinogenic cactus that can yield effects similar to those of LSD.

Ewing, who has worked in the greenhouse for almost 20 years, rolls his eyes at this accusation as well, finding the myth that the UW is growing either plant "more than anything, humorous."

But Ewing finds it troubling to think that the myth might be responsible for occasional break-ins, which he says are not a major problem but do occur "every now and then."

However, he views the vandalism as one of the trade-offs for making the greenhouse readily accessible to UW students and to the public at large -- more than 5,000 people toured the facility last year alone.

Even when the myth may not be responsible for theft, it is often blamed.

"Every time there's a break-in, people think it's for the cannabis," Chen says.

"It's one of those things," he adds, chuckling. "[The myth] never dies. I think it's just, like, a few people who think [the cannabis is] here, and then they just kind of spread it to their friends -- and then everyone thinks that after a while."

In fact, the rumors have persisted so long that they have evolved and expanded into a myth [alleging that the UW Medical Center may be using the marijuana grown in the medicinal-herb garden to treat select patients].

Walter Neary, a UW spokesman for Health Sciences and Medical Affairs, explains, however, that it is illegal for a pharmacy to possess marijuana, and for a physician to prescribe it -- but not to authorize its use.

"Federal law still prohibits obtaining, possessing or cultivating marijuana for any purpose," Neary states via e-mail. "Needless to say, the UW Medical Center pharmacy does not stock or dispense marijuana."

But the rumors still persist. "The problem with this myth," Ewing says, "is that it's one of those things where the more you say it's not true, the more you convince at least some people that it must be true."