Progress was stalled for decades. Each time there was a call to review cannabis’s Schedule I status—which, in the federal government’s eyes, aligns it with highly addictive and dangerous drugs like heroin—one argument for not rescheduling was the lack of scientific evidence of the beneficial effects of individual cannabinoids.
It left advocates stuck, researchers handcuffed and patients without access to legal products.
However, as states began approving medical programs, and later, adult-use markets, legacy cultivators who had honed their craft for decades outdoors or behind closed doors could now obtain licenses and suddenly had room to grow. Legalization offered expanded cultivation space, but also challenges with ensuring proper lighting, humidity control, and mitigating pest and disease outbreaks (not to mention unpredictable weather for outdoor growers).
Cannabis cultivation lends itself to exploration as breeders and growers try to perfect genetics and practices, but there were few educational resources for new operators or those who had only grown a few plants at a time. Some shared ideas, but others, understandably wanting to protect themselves and their businesses, guarded the results of tests and trials. Those who were willing to share best practices on cannabis cultivation before legalization include regular CBT contributor Robert C. Clarke, who wrote books on cannabis botany and propagation techniques more than 40 years ago.
But then, in 2018, the Farm Bill passed, which protected research into cannabis defined as hemp, or plants testing below 0.3% THC, paving way for university research and published information. It was still risky for those who conducted research; legality did not necessarily remove the stigma for those exploring the previously banned crop, and people put their reputations on the line to test long-held theories and publish the results.
Some of those university researchers, including Brian Whipker, Ph.D., and Brian Jackson, Ph.D., both of North Carolina State University, are regular contributors to CBT. The significant contributions of other researchers, including Bruce Bugbee, Ph.D., of Utah State University and best known for his findings to advance cultivation lighting, are detailed in this month’s cover story, written by CBT contributor Jolene Hansen, on p. 28.
As we begin 2023, the state of cannabis research overall is in a much better place.
For example, in December, President Joe Biden signed bipartisan legislation, The Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act, that promotes cannabis research by “streamlining the application process for studies and removing U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) barriers for researchers that often slow the process,” according to reporting by CBT Associate Editor Tony Lange. And universities are launching cultivation and business management programs for students specifically geared toward cannabis.
There’s also a chance cannabis may be descheduled in light of Biden’s call to review the plant’s Schedule I status, knocking down more barriers to exploration and access to important information about cannabis’s potential. What that process entails and the possible outcomes are outlined starting on p. 22.
As an industry, we talk a lot about what makes cannabis special, perhaps because for so long its benefits were disregarded and its use was disgraced. There is still much to uncover and discover about which environments plants like best, which terpenes are responsible for certain effects and the scope of ailments cannabis can treat. But perhaps it’s equally important to remember it’s not so different from other plants.
“We say we know everything about this plant. We assume it’s the same as all the other short-day plants we’ve been studying for many decades,” says Bugbee in the cover story. “Now, let’s look for the exceptions to the rule.”
