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)

Until his order from "Weeds," White's biggest buyers were law enforcement agencies in Virginia and Ontario, Canada. And that was a hard fact for the dealer to deal with.

"I have deeply mixed feelings selling to law enforcement," he said. "They've been some of our largest customers. If an average order is $150, the average law enforcement order is over $1,000.

"But at least those tax dollars are coming back to help fund the reform movement," White said.

So far, his products haven't disappointed even the most discerning customers.

"When you come through the door and look at them, you'd swear you're looking at real marijuana," said John O'Reilly, an instructor at the Ontario Police College in Canada. After finding just one other company that makes fake pot plants, the college purchased 30 of White's two-foot-tall stalks to simulate a homegrown marijuana cultivation operation.

"We've had people see them and want to know why we're growing marijuana."

The New Image Plants have also fooled some other connoisseurs.

After ordering a bogus bud online, one customer called White to ask how soon her shipment would arrive.

"I could tell in her voice that she thought she had ordered the real thing," White said. While he did his best to set her straight, the caller was adamant that actual marijuana could be bought through the Internet, he said. But he insisted that she not try getting high on the silk supply.

"We cannot be held liable for stupid people smoking our plants," he said.

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On the Net:

http://www.newimageplants.com