Entrepreneur rolls pro-pot ideas, skills into mock pot plant

[palmspringsbum]

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 12:00 AM
The Seattle Times


Entrepreneur rolls pro-pot ideas, skills into mock pot plants

By ADAM GORLICK
The Associated Press

<table class=posttable align=right width=200><tr><td class=postcell><img class=postimg src=bin/white-joseph.jpg></td></tr><tr><td class=postcap>Joseph White of New Image Plants, with some of his decorative marijuana plants made of silk and wood.</td></tr></table>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 sheet music for "Mr. Tambourine Man," just across the room from a fax machine.

And then there are the marijuana stalks. Towering 6-footers. Pint-sized plants for personal medical use. He even has a few ripe buds on the desk, not far from his cellphone.

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

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.

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

By getting his artificial plants into private homes and public spaces, White is betting that more people will start appreciating the natural beauty of the plant instead of thinking of marijuana as an evil weed.

His early customers were people looking for gag gifts, party planners in search of unique decorations, and law-enforcement agencies needing replicas for training missions.

Then Hollywood came calling. In April, White received an order for 355 plants from "Weeds," the Showtime cable-television series about a single suburban soccer mom who deals marijuana to support her family.

"I looked hard to find somebody to make us good weed, and Joe did the best job," said Julie Bolder, the show's set director.

The plants are assembled by White's manufacturing partner in Jupiter, Fla. Workers attach stems and leaves made from imported Chinese silk to a thin, wooden trunk. The plants are wedged into a pot with a foam base, then topped with moss. The flowering marijuana models that sell for $80 to $190 come with a few buds attached. His hemp models, which do not have flowers, sell for $65 to $150.

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.

The New Image Plants have also fooled other connoisseurs. After ordering some 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. He did his best to set her straight.

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

Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company