Social media users shared online reports claiming NASA found trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major compound in marijuana, on a meteorite fragment. This statement is false.
Examples can be seen: here and here .
One report reads: “Marijuana in space – NASA discovers THC on meteorite fragment. A team of astrophysicists at the University of Hawaii has created a bit of a stir in the scientific community after the discovery of trace amounts of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on a meteorite … ‘
The post links to ‘thehealthdisorder.com’, a website that has now been removed. An archived version of the article archive.vn/PUrxQ shows that it was published on February 3, 2016.
The article was unleashed on February 8, 2016 archive.vn/e6ZWi by the cannabis magazine and the High Times website, referring to a website called “notallowedto.com” which published the same article here. It appears that the site publishes notallowedto.com/ satirical articles.
Although not dated, the article “notallowedto.com” dates back to at least 2015 (archive.vn/NVFXq).
This ‘discovery’ does not appear on NASA’s website or social media accounts twitter.com/NASA , www.instagram.com/nasa/ or www.facebook.com/NASA.
Although the article states that the news of the discovery caused a stir in the scientific community, Reuters did not find any credible news sources.
PolitiFact also rejected the claim on 23 February 2021 here.
NASA did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
VERDICT
Untrue. There is no evidence that NASA discovered marijuana on a meteorite fragment.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.