Vaguely P-related: bio warfare against drugs

[Doug Millison]

http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/071800sci-drugs-fungus.html

"[...]Dr. David C. Sands holds out a clear  plastic petri dish filled 
with a white fuzzy fungus growing  across the bottom. This 
substance, he believes, is the key  to ending much of the world's 
production of illicit drugs.  Members of Congress also believe that 
Dr. Sands and other researchers may be on to a powerful and 
environmentally safe method of killing not only coca plants, but also 
marijuana and poppy plants. The members have asked the government of 
Colombia to test a strain of Fusarium oxysporum over the next two 
years. If it proves effective, the disease will be sprayed on vast 
fields of coca plants there, and experts say it could wipe out much 
of the coca crop within a year. The research holds such promise that 
officials at Montana State University ended it two years ago, fearing 
it could make the university a target of drug cartels. [...]"


Pynchon-related stretch:  the Vineland rant against the tendency to 
outlaw everything that feels good.
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