On the evening of July 20th, an eerie pink glow illuminated the sky over the Australian town, Mildura, Victoria. Many locals wondered if it was an apocalypse, an alien invasion, and even a portal to the space-time continuum.
“All these end-of-the-world scenarios were going through my head,” Nikea Champion, a local, told BBC News. “I was having a big Stranger Things moment – I’m like, Vecna? Is that you?” she said, referring to a villain from the TV series.
Fortunately, none of these theories were true. All this commotion actually turned out to be from the reflection of a nearby cannabis farm’s hydroponic lights.
“Cannabis plants require different spectrums of light in order to encourage their growth,” said Rhys Cohen, Senior Communications Manager at Cann Group Ltd, in an article from The Guardian.
“A red spectrum light is often used. Normally the facility would have blackout blinds that come down at night and will, in the future, block that glow.”
Unfortunately, the blinds did not work on Wednesday, and because it was especially cloudy that day, the glow could be spotted in areas that were almost an hour away.
Despite the initial panic, many people found the “sunset on steroids” very beautiful and entertaining.
“I cracked up laughing… it could have been something so much cooler, but was just medical marijuana grow lights basically,” Ms. Champion said.
Medicinal cannabis was first legalized in Australia in 2016, but recreational drug use is banned. Ever since, around 260,000 prescriptions have been approved by Australian regulators for a variety of diseases.
Since 2019, the number of prescriptions approved has doubled, and most of them come from the state of Queensland. However, charges for marijuana related crime still remained high between 2018 to 2019, with authorities prosecuting almost 71,151 people.
Although many facilities keep their locations top secret, this facility in Mildura, surely made its appearance.
Link to articles:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62261094
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/21/pink-sky-mildura-victoria-australia-medicinal-cannabis-marijuana-plant?CMP=twt_gu&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium
“All these end-of-the-world scenarios were going through my head,” Nikea Champion, a local, told BBC News. “I was having a big Stranger Things moment – I’m like, Vecna? Is that you?” she said, referring to a villain from the TV series.
Fortunately, none of these theories were true. All this commotion actually turned out to be from the reflection of a nearby cannabis farm’s hydroponic lights.
“Cannabis plants require different spectrums of light in order to encourage their growth,” said Rhys Cohen, Senior Communications Manager at Cann Group Ltd, in an article from The Guardian.
“A red spectrum light is often used. Normally the facility would have blackout blinds that come down at night and will, in the future, block that glow.”
Unfortunately, the blinds did not work on Wednesday, and because it was especially cloudy that day, the glow could be spotted in areas that were almost an hour away.
Despite the initial panic, many people found the “sunset on steroids” very beautiful and entertaining.
“I cracked up laughing… it could have been something so much cooler, but was just medical marijuana grow lights basically,” Ms. Champion said.
Medicinal cannabis was first legalized in Australia in 2016, but recreational drug use is banned. Ever since, around 260,000 prescriptions have been approved by Australian regulators for a variety of diseases.
Since 2019, the number of prescriptions approved has doubled, and most of them come from the state of Queensland. However, charges for marijuana related crime still remained high between 2018 to 2019, with authorities prosecuting almost 71,151 people.
Although many facilities keep their locations top secret, this facility in Mildura, surely made its appearance.
Link to articles:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62261094
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/21/pink-sky-mildura-victoria-australia-medicinal-cannabis-marijuana-plant?CMP=twt_gu&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium
