A Florida-based research firm is in the final stages of obtaining a rare federal license to grow cannabis for medical research in Maine.
Maridose LLC is one of at least 37 companies that has applied to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to grow cannabis for federal research. There are only about 600 scientists across the country, including at least two in Maine, who have federal approval to study cannabis.
The University of Mississippi has had a monopoly over the cultivation of cannabis for federally sanctioned research for more than 50 years. But in 2016, with interest in cannabis research climbing, the DEA announced it would be opening up its cannabis cultivation contract to other growers.
“Although no drug product made from cannabis has yet been shown to be safe and effective in such clinical trials, the DEA fully supports expanding research into the potential medical utility of cannabis and its chemical constituents,” the agency said in its policy statement.
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