Two leading universities in the state, University of Utah and Utah State University, are collaborating in legal hemp research.
After the 2018 Farm Bill was signed in December, legalizing industrial hemp products, researchers at USU were quickly approached with an opportunity to study cannabis plants for medicinal uses, in partnership with UofU.
“Cannabis plants have a hundred different useful compounds; there’s only one that gets you high,” said Bruce Bugbee, a USU scientist leading the program. “Cannabis is as old as the hills. For thousands of years people were using it for aches and pains.”
Bugbee specializes in the use of controlled environments to study crop growth and yield. The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food has approved a limited number of permits to grow hemp, and Bugbee obtained his in early February.
For this study, the cuttings that started Bugbee’s plants were provided by growers in Colorado and Kentucky. “We have to ensure that we separate male and female cannabis plants,” Bugbee said. “With most plants you start with a seed and plant it, but not with cannabis.”
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