The government is not growing cannabis that reflects what people are buying in legal markets, another study has found, which raises questions about the validity of research that relies on cannabis from the currently only federally authorized source.
For decades, there has just been one farm at the University of Mississippi that is cleared by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to cultivate cannabis 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 adult use.
Researchers analyzed the composition of wild hemp, cultivated hemp, “research-grade” cannabis from the government source, and several varieties of commercially available cannabis. 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 cannabis that is sold in legal states.
“Our results clearly demonstrate that NIDA cannabis samples are substantially genetically different from most commercially available drug-type strains and share a genetic affinity with hemp samples in several of the analyses,” the study authors wrote. “We do not claim that NIDA is supplying hemp for cannabis research, rather we are confident that our analyses show that the ‘research-grade cannabis’ supplied by NIDA is genetically different from the retail drug-type samples analyzed in this study.”
“Given both this genetic and previous chemotypic investigations have concluded that NIDA is supplying a product that does not align with what is available for consumers, our hope is that the NIH and NIDA will support the cultivation of cannabis that is representative of what medical and adult-use consumers are using,” they continued.
Read the complete article at www.marijuanamoment.net.