Pubdate: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company Contact: 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 Fax: (212) 556-3622 Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/ Author: James Barron FOR AUTHENTICITY CINEMA CANNABIS Authenticity was the watchword in NIGEL COLE's film "Saving Grace," about an English orchid-grower who starts growing another cash crop in her state-of-the-art greenhouse. The marijuana plants are real. "I think we're the only film to get crown dispensation to use real marijuana plants," Mr. Cole said yesterday. "I knew that there were going to be a section of the audience that would know if the plants were wrong, and I didn't want to disappoint them. We've received some very nice compliments from people who seem to know quite a lot about it. A gentleman in the Sundance festival staggered up to me and went, 'Awesome, dude.' I wouldn't know, obviously." He said that the Ministry of Agriculture had allowed the use of hemp plants. "One could smoke a whole roomful of the stuff without getting much more than a headache," he said. "They are close cousins to the real thing." "They had 150 plants and they arrived in a secure van every day, accompanied by two representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture," he said. "At the end of the day, the plants had to be stored in a secure building. The local police station agreed to look after them. They were delighted to help and told me when I called up, 'They'll be perfectly safe with us, but you might not get all of them back.' " - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D