The High-Stakes Race to Breed Cannabis With 0% THC

Sarah Kessler, writing for OneZero:

All cannabis plants, including hemp, have some amount of the psychoactive chemical compound THC. Cannabis sold legally as marijuana may have as much as 20% THC on a dry-weight basis, while farmers growing hemp for textiles, food, or CBD are required by law to meet a much lower limit of 0.3%. Neither a 0.3% THC cannabis plant nor a 0.4% THC cannabis plant will get you any higher than smoking grass from your lawn, but in the eyes of the law, that tiny tenth of a percent makes all the difference.

To comply with federal rules, states must ensure the “disposal” of a hemp crop that tests over the 0.3% limit, a process that usually involves plowing it down or burning it on-site. A draft of new hemp-growing guidelines proposed by the USDA, the first such guidelines from the federal government, establishes a margin of error for meeting the THC limit, but is strict about the consequences of failing the test. If the rules go into effect as written, farmers with what the industry calls “hot” crops that exceed the 0.3% limit will be responsible for paying an estimated $200 per acre to destroy their own crops, on top of losing the commercial value of the plants. This is true even if the grower is operating in a state that has legalized recreational marijuana, which requires a different type of license. […]

Meanwhile, since both CBD and THC in a plant increase over time as it grows, most farmers who buy even otherwise high-quality seed are still caught playing a game of chicken: They want to leave their plants in the field long enough to maximize CBD. But if they wait too long to harvest, they’ll end up with too much THC — and a crop that has to be destroyed.

This whole situation is completely bonkers. There’s no scientific reason to have hemp defined exclusively as “cannabis containing less than 0.3% THC, and it doesn’t look like the definition is going to change anytime soon. However, farmers shouldn’t lose all hope:

But as scientists develop a better understanding of hemp, science could help farmers sidestep politics. Breeders will develop varieties with specific traits, certification process will help farmers predict results, and eventually the results from low-THC certified varieties will be so well-known that states won’t even need to test plants themselves. “I think that’s possible,” Steenstra says. “But it will take some time. “

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CDC Says Vitamin E Acetate Is a “Very Strong Culprit of Concern” in Vaping-Related Lung Injuries

Paul Armentano, writing for NORML:

A representative at the US Centers for Disease Control for the first time today identified vitamin E acetate as a “very strong culprit of concern” in EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury). Their announcement comes after health officials found the oil in the lungs of 29 patients sickened following their use of portable e-liquid vaporizers.

Writing in the agency’s journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, investigators concluded, “Based on these data from 29 patients, it appears that vitamin E acetate is associated with EVALI.”

The first mention of vitamin E acetate as a potential cause of these vaping health issues on Think Wilder was in the This Week in Psychoactives blog post from September 6. The vaping experts I follow on Twitter have been correctly pointing to this contaminant since then, but many official sources (media and government) tried to blame e-cigarettes. One of the worst offenders has been the CDC, which stubbornly pointed its finger at e-cigarettes rather than the actual source of the problem—illicit THC vape cartridges. It’s a crying shame it took more than two months for the folks over there to start spreading accurate information about this.

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Four More Major Cities Take Steps to Decriminalize Psychedelics

Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment:

Advocates in Portland, Chicago, Berkeley and Dallas are pushing decriminalization measures—either through City Council action or ballot measures—aiming to build on successful campaigns to deprioritize enforcement of certain drug laws in Denver and Oakland earlier this year.

Onward and ever upward.

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Microscopic Images Reveal the Most Potent Cannabis Flowers in Incredible Detail

Rosie McCall, writing for Newsweek:

Scientists have studied the trichomes (or "cellular factories") of the cannabis plant in extreme detail, revealing that flowers with mushroom-shaped hairs are the most potent—both in terms of smell and cannabinoid content. […]

The valuable products of the cannabis plants are its metabolites (i.e. the cannabinoids and terpenes), which are amply produced in the glandular trichomes of the female flower—aka the "marijuana bud." These glandular trichomes come in three variations defined by their appearance—bulbous, sessile and stalked. However, until now, little was understood about how these different shapes affected the plant's chemical outputs.

To find out, the researchers developed a technique involving two-photon microscopy and intrinsic autofluorescence patterns. This allowed them to study the internal structures of different trichomes in a hemp variant called Finola.

This technique and these photos are absolutely incredible.

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Why Some South American Indigenous Tribes Give Their Dogs Psychedelic Drugs

Troy Farah, writing for The Outline:

Like most humans, the Shuar and Quichua indigenous tribes of Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia have a special relationship with dogs. But in the Amazon, that bond can mean life or death, and dogs are treated particularly well, especially as hunting companions or protection from jaguars. The Quichua believe dogs have souls and will try to interpret their dreams. In some cases, Shuar women will breastfeed puppies alongside their children.

According to Shuar belief, dogs are a blessing from the earth mother, Nunkui, while Quichua view canines as gifts from forest spirits that can protect against mal ojo, the evil eye. And when their dogs become ill, these tribes use the plants around them as veterinary medicine. For example, ficus helps fight parasites, and Anthurium eminens treats botfly infections. In other cases, a mix of tobacco and ginger applied to the eyes can allegedly help dogs become better hunters by improving night vision. Dogs are so sacred in such societies that some peoples will even give them psychedelics. Surprisingly little is known about this practice, only that it dates back several centuries and those who do it believe it to be beneficial.

It turns out that the indigenous tribes of South America routinely give their dogs a variety of psychedelics (in addition to other types of plant medicines) in order to improve their night vision for hunting. Even though this practice has apparently been going on for generations, this is the first time I’ve heard of such a thing.

Kudos to Farah for exploring this story, which was inspired by a previously-overlooked scientific review published a few years ago that wasn’t covered anywhere else, to my knowledge.

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