12 pounds of marijuana washed ashore on a North Carolina beach

A few months earlier and it might have been considered a spring break miracle.

A couple strolling along the shoreline at Atlantic Beach, a popular North Carolina vacation destination, happened upon a suspicious package on Sunday.

They called the fire department, which then called the police, according to the Jacksonville Daily News.

When authorities cracked open the barnacle-encrusted package, they found 12 pounds of marijuana wrapped in brown paper and covered with tape.

Some rough weather rumbled up the coast a few days ago and Atlantic Beach Police Chief Jeff Harvey attributed the reclaimed weed to an act of Poseidon.

“The recent storm likely churned up the water and the package washed ashore,” he told the Jacksonville Daily News.

This is far from the first time the sea gods have delivered wave-battered marijuana to our shores. Police in Florida’s Volusia County recovered 20 pounds of weed in 2014 along with 20 kilos of cocaine. In one weekend in 2012, more than 400 pounds of cannabis washed ashore in the South Florida town of Jupiter, a haul that police estimated would be worth more than $1 million on the street.

For one North Carolina beachcomber interviewed by WITN, however, the find at Atlantic Beach was a surprise.

“That’s pretty crazy. I guess anything can happen,” said Kevin Morrow. “I’ve never found anything like that, but that’s pretty wild,” he said with a chuckle.

Ted Hesson was formerly the immigration editor at Fusion, covering the issue from Washington, D.C. He also writes about drug laws and (occasionally) baseball. On the side: guitars, urban biking, and fiction.