that useful substance

[pynchonoid]

Canada troops battle 10-ft Afghan marijuana plants
Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:09 PM BST166

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian troops fighting Taliban
militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an
unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable
forests of 10-feet (three metre) high marijuana
plants.

General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defence
staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were
using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of
at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle
with marijuana.

"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy,
heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate
with thermal devices ... and as a result you really
have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and
out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech
in Ottawa.

"We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it
didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it
didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now
... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.

Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.

"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of
those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of
soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill
effects and decided that was probably not the right
course of action," Hiller said dryly.

One soldier told him later: "Sir, three years ago
before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say
'That damn marijuana'."
---

"ill effects" lol

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