Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Marijuana Grew Like Weeds in 1950s Brooklyn

It sprouted all over, and city officials asked residents to report it

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 23, 2011 4:42 PM CDT

(Newser) – New York's Daily Intel blog takes note of more innocent times in Brooklyn, courtesy of a local librarian: Marijuana plants, and big ones at that, used to flourish in empty lots and backyards in the 1950s. Residents even got this official notice: “If you spot these leaves in your backyard, growing in a tall, erect stalk, you have a budding marijuana crop on tap and the Sanitation Department would like to know about it.”

In fact, sanitation workers destroyed 41,000 pounds of pot from city lots in the summer of 1951. “We can’t hope to wipe it out entirely,” a city official told the New Yorker back then, notes the CarrollGardensPatch blog. “A lot of it is planted, but the weed grows freely here, and most of the marijuana in the city is probably in the backyards of people who don’t know what it is, and therefore don’t report it. Each plant bears clusters of seeds that are blown away by the wind and sprout elsewhere.” Click to read more about how big the plants grew.

Medical marijuana clone plants are shown at Harborside Health Center, a medical marijuana dispensary, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

CLICK BELOW TO VOTE

70%

13%

11%

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

NYC Shops Busted for Peddling Weed

Six stores raided, employees arrested for 'drug bazaar'

(NEWSER) - Cops raided six Brooklyn businesses yesterday and say they found something not exactly on the specials list: marijuana. “At lunch it turned into a veritable pot-luck event,” the police commissioner says of one restaurant. “You could go in and get drugs in the food itself or go to the back of the store and pick it up or even buy it over the counter.” More»

4 Die in Separate NYC Subway Accidents

4 men killed in 24-hour period

(NEWSER) - Four men were killed in four separate New York City subway accidents in a single 24-hour period over the weekend. Two of the men were stuck by trains in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and a third was killed when he was crushed between a train and the platform in the Village, reports the New York Post . Another man was found dead on a elevated station platform in Queens. Police don't suspect criminal activity in any of the deaths. More»

NYPD Cops Filmed Grinding on Parade Dancers

Police get groove on weekend when 48 were shot in city; probe launched

(NEWSER) - New York City officials are launching an investigation of two police officers filmed grinding against dancers in a West Indian Day parade during a weekend plagued by 48 shootings. Officers are seen pumping against the backs of shimmying dancers at the Brooklyn parade earlier this month in a just released video. While the cops were having fun, "gunfire broke out along other portions of the parade route," notes Fox News . The parade was linked to a significant number of the shootings that weekend, one of the worst for gun violence in the city. More»

NYC Yanks Kids From Pothead Parents

Marijuana, cocaine, heroin given same treatment by child welfare agencies

(NEWSER) - Heroin, cocaine, and Mary Jane are all treated the same by child welfare authorities in New York City: even a legal amount of marijuana at home means your children can be taken away, even permanently, the New York Times reports. Several hundred of the city's casual dope smokers have been drawn into civil child neglect cases over the past few years, even though states and localities nationwide are loosening marijuana laws—and 730,000 residents of the Big Apple are said to use the drug annually. More»

'Rent Is Too Damn High' Guy Faces Eviction

Jimmy McMillan getting kicked out of rent-controlled, NYC apartment

(NEWSER) - The founder of the "Rent is Too Damn High" Party believes he is facing eviction from his NYC apartment because … the rent he pays is actually too low. His landlord claims Jimmy McMillan, who has lived in the rent-controlled apartment since 1977, is in violation of his lease: His primary residence isn't the East Village apartment, but in Brooklyn, argues the building's owner. McMillan, who pays $872.96 for the apartment, says he's being driven out because the landlord wants more money. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Marijuana Grew Like Weeds in 1950s Brooklyn

It sprouted all over, and city officials asked residents to report it

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

New York City • Brooklyn • marijuana

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

NYC Shops Busted for Peddling Weed

Six stores raided, employees arrested for 'drug bazaar'

4 Die in Separate NYC Subway Accidents

4 men killed in 24-hour period

NYPD Cops Filmed Grinding on Parade Dancers

Police get groove on weekend when 48 were shot in city; probe launched

NYC Yanks Kids From Pothead Parents

Marijuana, cocaine, heroin given same treatment by child welfare agencies

'Rent Is Too Damn High' Guy Faces Eviction

Jimmy McMillan getting kicked out of rent-controlled, NYC apartment

About Us

Site

Community

Site Maps

Tools

More News

What is Newser?