"Rats Ate All the Weed" Say Indian Police.

"Rats are small animals, and they aren't scared of the police," stated a court in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, following reports that local police could not account for almost 200 kilograms of impounded cannabis that was intended to be used as proof in a current case.

Police could not provide the complete total of 386 kilograms of cannabis. The prosecution also made the court aware that more than 700 kilograms of cannabis stored in police stations across Mathura could also be affected by the alleged rat problem.

Apparently, this was not the first time the rats had attacked. The judge presiding over the case mentioned that Mathura police had already blamed the rodents for obliterating over 500 kilograms of cannabis seized in various raids and kept under lock and key at police stations in neighbouring cities.

The court then issued guidelines for the police to store auction and dispose of the confiscated weed. "There's a rat menace in almost all police stations. Hence, necessary arrangements must be made to safeguard the cannabis that's been confiscated," 

However, there is some ambiguity regarding the exact chain of events when it comes to the case of the vanishing weed and it would appear that events that recollecvtions are a little "hazy".

Following the court case, The Superintendent of Mathura City Police,  Martand Prakash Singh, told reporters that the weed was "destroyed by rains and flooding", not rodents.

"There was no reference to rats in the report submitted to the court, it was only mentioned that the cannabis was destroyed by rains and flooding," he said.

If the rats are guilty, they are doing an excellent job of maintaining their theft levels, as they must be getting mega-stoned. A 2016 study carried out at the University of British Columbia discovered that THC made rats lazy.

The researchers taught 29 rats to partake in an experiment where they had to pick between straightforward or more complicated tasks to earn treats. The rats, at first, naturally chose the more challenging and rewarding job. However, the same rats picked the easier task once they had been given the THC. No surprise there!

So is there really a plague of weed-stealing rats sweeping across Northern India? Who knows? But I know what excuse I'm using next time the last of my flatmate's weed suspiciously goes missing!!