Utah took a huge step forward in the realm of cannabis reform last week by giving initial approval to legalize medical marijuana. The proposal passed its first test after a Senate committee voted 3-2 to approve the bill. The initiative is expected to face an uphill battle in the conservative state and has already garnered the disapproval of the Drug Enforcement Agency.
According to the Washington Post, a DEA agent presented testimony to a Utah Senate panel last Tuesday detailing concerns about the state’s wildlife if medical marijuana becomes legal. A member of the “marijuana eradication” team in Utah, special agent Matt Fairbanks spoke about his work eliminating illegal back-country cannabis grow sites and mentioned that he had seen “rabbits that had cultivated a taste for the marijuana.”
“One of them refused to leave us, and we took all the marijuana around him, but his natural instincts to run were somehow gone,” Fairbanks continued.
Using stoned rabbits as a warning against marijuana legalization seems like a bit of a stretch. While it’s probably not the best idea to intoxicate your pets, lots of animals get high, and no harm ever comes of it. Last year, a flock of sheep in England ate £4,000 worth of pot. In the Canadian Rockies, wild bighorn sheep go to extreme lengths to find rare narcotic lichens. Even some zoos give lions Christmas trees to play with due to the catnip-like effect they have on the felines.
It seems like animals are always getting high. So in honor of all the soon-to-be-stoned rabbits in Utah, we’ve put together a list of some of the highest (or highest-looking) animals on the Internet.