Fake Weed a Growth Business for Advocate

Joseph H. White of New Image Plants, shows off decorative silk marijuana plants that he sells as props, training tools and decorations from his Greenfield, Mass., home on Thursday, July 13, 2006. During the past two years, White has rolled his pro-pot activism and business savvy into New Image Plants, a startup company that sells the make-believe marijuana online. (AP Photo/Paul Franz) (Paul Franz - AP)

GREENFIELD, Mass. -- Joseph White's home office is like a modern-day hippie hangout. Books on Buddhism and yoga mingle with business planners and a laptop computer. An acoustic guitar rests next to a shuffle of sheet music for "Mr. Tambourine Man," just across the room from a fax machine.

And then there are the marijuana stalks. Towering six-footers. Pint-sized plants for personal medical use. He even has a few ripe buds kicking around on a desk, not far from his cell phone.

His stash is for sale, but it won't get you stoned. These lifelike botanicals are made of silk and wood.

Behold, counterfeit cannabis.

During the past two years, White _ a trim 51-year-old with thinning hair and a small stud in his left earlobe _ has rolled his pro-pot activism and business savvy into New Image Plants, a startup company that sells the make-believe marijuana online.

"The business name reflects exactly what I'm trying to do _ create a new image for these plants," he said. "They're beautiful plants and people should be able to enjoy them without fear of arrest."

White won't say whether he smokes pot or has in the past. But he began pushing for marijuana legalization about seven years ago after talking to one of his sons about anti-drug advertising.

"He wanted to know why adults were talking down to kids and trying to scare them," White said. While he doesn't condone the use of marijuana by minors, White rebukes the notion that pot is a harmful drug that inevitably leads to the use of harder drugs.

"Kids know those claims aren't true," White said. "So when they hear an anti-drug message like that, they just discount it."

So he started a nonprofit group in 1999 called Change the Climate, which advocates for the legalization and taxation of marijuana and better education about the drug.

"My vision was that I needed to tell the truth about marijuana," White said.

By getting his artificial plants into private residences and public spaces, White is betting that more people will start appreciating the natural beauty of the real thing's jagged, seven-point leaves, lithe stems and robust buds instead of thinking of marijuana as an evil weed.