The government isn’t growing marijuana that reflects what people are buying in legal markets, another study has found. And that raises questions about the validity of research that relies on cannabis from the currently only federally authorized source. For decades, there’s just been one farm at the University of Mississippi that’s cleared by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to cultivate marijuana for research purposes. But this latest study, published in the journal Frontiers, shows that cannabis from that source is genetically distinct from what people are buying at retailers in states where the plant is legal for medical or recreational use. Researchers analyzed the composition of wild hemp, cultivated hemp, “research-grade” cannabis from the government source and several varieties of commercially available marijuana. A total of 49 samples were used. Consistent with the results of past research on the subject, the analysis showed that the cannabis from the Mississippi operation licensed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) was more similar to wild hemp genetically than marijuana that’s sold in legal states.
Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 11/01/2021 12:07:00