Stoned rabbits? Really? In Utah?

An agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made the astounding assertion that rabbits eating raw cannabis sativa plants could become stoned or addicted.

Speaking at a discussion about Utah legalizing medical marijuana edibles for people with certain ailments in Utah, DEA agent Matt Fairbanks astounded those in attendance by suggesting stoned rabbits are a possibility is the state approved medical marijuana.

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"Personally, I have seen entire mountainsides subjected to pesticides, harmful chemicals, deforestation and erosion ...The ramifications to the flora, the animal life, the contaminated water, are still unknown ... I saw rabbits that had cultivated a taste for the marijuana ...One of them refused to leave us, and we took all the marijuana around him, but his natural instincts to run were somehow gone", he said.

In a nutshell, Fairbanks doesn't want Utah to legalize medical marijuana because it would lead to stoned rabbits.

Analysts noted it's debatable if animals eat cannabis sativa plants to get high or stoned. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical responsible for most of marijuana's psychological effects such as getting stoned, has to be heated to be activated.

Eating raw cannabis sativa leaves or flowers doesn't pack the same punch, said the Global Healing Center.

No studies have been made about how legalizing marijuana affects wildlife consumption of marijuana. There are, however, several studies that have found that marijuana should be kept away from animals that will often eat too much of the stuff.

A story in the Washington Post said it's true illegal pot farming can have harmful environmental consequences. But backcountry marijuana grows are a direct result of marijuana's illegal status.

"If you're concerned about the environmental impact of these grows, an alternative is to legalize and regulate the plant so that people can grow it on farms and in their gardens, rather than on remote mountainsides."