Scientists Find The Gene That Produces THC

with as many rap music and junk food references as this article, it just makes it harder for "squares" to take it seriously.

Canada, an enlightened and Socialist Democracy of Free, truly Free people, treat those who feel the need for getting high on drugs as serious medical patients, in need of psychiatric help! Canada is beautiful country enough to keep you high without artificial means! We do treat those criminals among us that would distort this beautiful picture by selling drugs to kids, very severely! We grow Hemp, legally on Canada, and grow only "clean" non-dope style Hemp, for industrial, oil, and food purposes! Only poor deprived Americans scorch their lungs on a regular basis trying to escape their ugly existences with it! They need more Hockey games! More Snow! More freezing winters, to cleanse their minds, and give them that "Scandinavian" glow, or "Canadian Glow", or is it our great health-care, and loving governments that do the trick? Are we freed from corporatism's evil grip by socialist governments? Yes! Thats it! We have it better than they do! Dammit! Now I even feel better!

There are other means of determining if the plant in question is hemp or marijuana, but if scientists are able to find a method of distinguishing between the two, I Eric Pollitt of Global Hemp am in favor. However, I am not in favor of genetically modifying cannabis sativa to produce that's "US Federal Government Approved."

All industrialized nations currently allow for hemp cultivation ... and with a few catches of red tape. This is perfectly fine, and is the best method of all for making sure that the hemp grown in a field is legitimate.

In Europe and Canada, the protocol for growing hemp follows:

1. Farmers must pass a criminal background check
2. Farmers must purchase and use certified seed that is known to be low in THC
3. Farmers must provide GPS coordinates of field where hemp will be grown
4. Fields are subject to random testing

And finally, the end users, such as hemp food processors, test each batch of hemp food processed, including hemp oil, shelled hemp seeds (hemp nut, hemp hearts, hulled hempseed), hemp protein, etc to make sure that its lower than 0.3 THC.

Three tenths of 1% is the limit set by Health Canada which is like the USDA and FDA combined. In all reality, all hemp foods processed in Canada today are tested at parts per million and test results are "None Detected" nearly 100% of the time.

This protocol addresses most all issues for farmers, manufacturers, and end users (such as failing a drug test).

There is no reason why the US government could not easily adopt this protocol for growing industrial hemp.

For more information, visit the Global Hemp website at www.globalhemp.com

In your article you state:

"On the industrial side, states like North Dakota have been looking to change state law to allow them to raise hemp as a cash crop, for oil and rope production. The ability to create hemp that doesn't contain any banned substances would allow Dakotans to sow the crop without any changes in the law."

I want to point out that North Dakota has changed state law to allow our farmers to raise Industrial Hemp. They did so in 1999. We currently have two farmers, Dave Monson (a state legislator and Superintendent of Public Schools in Osnabrock, ND) and Wayne Hauge, a farmer from Ray, ND.

I too, want to go on the record as opposing any genetic modification of the hemp plant. Genetic modification of any organism can have disasterous effects.

North Dakota state law has already made the legal distinction between non-drug varieties and drug varieties of cannabis sativa.

Any questions regarding Industrial Hemp in ND?
Please contact me at:
modernhemp@hotmail.com
Or visit
www.modernhemp.com

In your article you state:

"On the industrial side, states like North Dakota have been looking to change state law to allow them to raise hemp as a cash crop, for oil and rope production. The ability to create hemp that doesn't contain any banned substances would allow Dakotans to sow the crop without any changes in the law."

I want to point out that North Dakota has changed state law to allow our farmers to raise Industrial Hemp. They did so in 1999. We currently have two farmers, Dave Monson (a state legislator and Superintendent of Public Schools in Osnabrock, ND) and Wayne Hauge, a farmer from Ray, ND that are licensed to grow it!.

I too, want to go on the record as opposing any genetic modification of the hemp plant. Genetic modification of any organism can have disasterous effects.

North Dakota state law has already made the legal distinction between non-drug varieties and drug varieties of cannabis sativa.

Any questions regarding Industrial Hemp in ND?
Please contact me at:
modernhemp@hotmail.com
Or visit
www.modernhemp.com

Genetically modifying cannabis cannot be any more disastrous than the affect it already has on society as a psychotropic drug. Besides altering the genes that produce THC won't have any disastrous effects, that is unless you count not being to get high from smoking the plant disastrous.

Haha! I love the link to the Onion article.

The production of ultra-high THC pot will eventually make it's way out of medical hands. The pot on the street right now is already much stronger than it was 30 years ago. This will make it a more dangerous drug, and probably move it out of the category of recreational substance that is generally socially acceptable.

But I don't see a huge problem with it. If it's good for industry and medicine, then great.

Sorry BulldogBlues -

"The pot on the street right now is already much stronger than it was 30 years ago." Well, not really. Nature does a pretty good job of regulating the maximum amount of THC in a plant. Hybridizing, etc., might give it a very minor bump, but the bud from the late 70s was just as strong as the bud today. What's more likely to be true is that consumers started demanding more of the potent part of the plant (the bud) and less of the weaker part (leaves, etc.). This is actually healthier since one can smoke less to get the desired effect.
The whole "super-strong-pot" meme is pretty much bull-pucky.

...skating on the other side of the ice

Actually, they have done testing that DOES prove that marijuana is more potent than it was back in the 70's.

Thanks for all the helpful info on growing regulations. New info to me.

quote:
"the researchers note that they specifically targeted the genes responsible for generating the drug-filled hairs highlighted in many a High Times photo spread"

if this is not irony i dont know what is....the spread was called "High Times" a very fitting name :D

either the researchers don't have a clue or Stuart Fox wrote it all wrong .. THC is not in the hair of the cannabis plant.
"the researchers note that they specifically targeted the genes responsible for generating the drug-filled hairs" LOL

Hint researcher .. you found the gene to the female
reproduction part of the plant (pistols).

Try looking at the trichome next time.

Thanks again for your misinformation it serves the public
well ..

PS . i want my tax funded dollars refunded ...

PSS. if the pistol get pollenated you end up with a female
plant with seeds and lower THC because all the plants energy
is going into seed production. you did nothing to stop
the THC from being produced. THC is made in the resin glands
of the trichrome when the female plant flowers.

Uncle B

If you don't think Canadians get high all the freaking time, then sir, I believe you're just too high yourself to notice.

Does this mean that people can now get gene therapy so they can save the trip to the "doctors" to get medical marijuana? What better way to become one with the drug, than for your body to produce it.
Person 1: "Dude is that your jacket that smells like pot!
Person 2: "No dude, I farted"
Person 1: "Sweeeeeet"

-Captain Science-

Dear meyaht,

You're a towel

You guys and the author have all apparently missed the molecular biology revolution of the past 25 years; the important point about this discovery is that the genes can now be cloned and expressed in another organism, for example, and probably most easily, another plant that naturally produces terpenes (THC is a terpenoid compound) such as orange, lemon or mint, or an entirely different organism, such as genetically engineered bacteria or yeast.

The bottom line is that once the THC genes are in the public domain, anyone with a little lab acumen can put together a THC-producing organism that is NOT cannabis, which will make drug law enforcement impossible.

Genetically modified pot- disgusting!!! How dare these biotech companies try to destroy one of the greatest gifts of gods good earth? This is why I hate biotech companies. They dont know anything about plant breeding, theyd rather make us guinea pigs for genetically modified organisms. They can all go to hell.

Make an entire batch of pure purple hairs? Sounds Great! Now I can expand even more my perception of units of light acknowledged and think ever so fast erratically, and contradictionally precise.

And DESTROY THE TOBACCO COMPANIES.
Seriously, its the most laced drug in the world next to crack cocaine and X. If you want to smoke it, grow your own plant.

And if you have never experienced Marijuana's effects, your claims are limited and unlikely logical. Don't look to the idiot that smokes pot to stereotype us by, look to the idiots that don't, and seek the rare experienced intellectuals instead to explain the prolonged exposure process of thc and how it helps self-altering the mind to be all it can be.

Just imagine if they could make a drug-free hemp, and then could use the seeds to contaminate a pot crop. If they could do that all over the territory where the most of it comes from, they could cause low-quality stuff to be harvested everywhere.

And it would do no good to try to gather seeds to plant a better crop, because half the seeds would be the zero-THC stuff, and they would just multiply the problem.

Another benefit is that nobody could criticize the government for causing pot to be contaminated with dangerous chemicals. It's just contaminated with low drug content, and the customers are paying good money for nothing.

And lets not forget that THC isnt the only active gene in marijuana. Medicines that utilize only THC are never as effective as the entire bud. There is CBD and other active ingredients that make its medicinal effects possible. This has been documented pretty extensively.

First let me state that I'm a pharmacist and in the late 60s and early 70s I was involved with cannabis research at St. John's University in Queens NY.
Although I don't smoke pot at present (when subject to unannounced drug tests, you can't partake.) However, pot is one of the safest recreational drugs available, certainly safer than alcohol which is legal. It has been used by mankind for thousands of years. No one has ever overdosed on pot, yes NEVER. It has been shown by research not to be a gateway drug. It is somewhat psychologically addictive but not physically as with heroin, cocaine and the various amphetamines such as the so called "meth".

Dear Genedoug,

Dont be an idiot. THC is only one of 90 cannibinoids (known) that are unique to Cannabis Sativa and its relatives. It would still effect people but would permanently damage the ability to produce a natural alternative to many known medications that are far more addictive (opioids) and far more dangerous since they cause permanent changes (many depressants) in brain chemistry. Also of note is the fact that they have already found that pot is a potential cure for brain chemistry. I would also like to point out that the only reason we have a prohibition is because the agents would have lost their jobs when alcohol prohibition ended so lies were spread about cannabis so they could still have a job. More people die every year from tripping on a sidewalk then die from pot. lets see pot related deaths last year... 0! Oh and when is the last time you saw a stoner go ape on someone rather than eat or talk philosophy. Pot just makes people mellow out. All the crime is in the procurement of the material... all the drug war crap you've been reading about in mexico. its about pot plain and simple. If it was legal then there would be no more fight over pot crops. Just like when the crime families were against the legalization of alcohol, everyone in crime wants this to stay illegal.

"Also of note is the fact that they have already found that pot is a potential cure for brain chemistry."

That should read brain cancer.

.
Uncle B:

Your prejudices are outrageously obvious. There are plenty of Canadians who are substance abusers, just as most of us in the US do not abuse drugs. To imply otherwise is nothing more than delusional. No nationality corners the market on drug-free behavior, or on drug abuse, either.

Some of you try to make a case for marijuana being "safe", but it is far from benign. It appears to have medical benefits that may not be available from other sources, such as suppressing certain forms of cancer, and if that's the case, I would not want those that need it to be deprived of it. But I hope they make progress in understanding its chemistry so it can be administered under controlled conditions without it needing to be smoked, i.e., by tablets or injections, as ANY form of burned organic matter inhaled into the lungs is harmful and carcinogenic. I don't want some druggie thinking it's okay to be smoking the stuff in public spaces, exposing me and others to the crap, claiming he needs it for medicinal purposes when in fact he simply paid some unethical doctor to write him a prescription for it without even checking his real need for it. So-called "medical marijuana dispensaries" have become a huge and horrifying problem here in the L.A. area, with several addicts robbing dispensaries and killing those that they considered to be "in their way" of getting it.

Studies have shown repeatedly that those that are arrested for serious crimes... robbery, rape, murder, etc... have a much higher incidence of marijuana use than the general public.

Just because marijuana has not been shown to kill anyone from overdoses does not mean it's benign, by any means. It is mind-altering in very dangerous ways... it disables regions of the brain responsible for suppressing a variety of non-socially-acceptable compulsions, such as the robbing of the dispensaries I just mentioned.

Marijuana also disables the "danger" mechanism that makes pot smokers seem so "mellow", when if fact they no longer have the ability to respond appropriately to dangerous situations. The jackass train operator that killed 25 people on a commuter train here not long ago was under the influence of marijuana when he went right through several red lights warning him there was a crash imminent. Don't try to say it was because he was texting on his cell phone-- if he hadn't been high on grass, he would have been thinking clearly enough to know that he needed to be running the train rather than playing with his phone!

Pot does not have to be fatal to have serious effects. I had several friends that smoked marijuana heavily, and each of them had extremely poor short-term memory-- they would ask a question, I'd answer it, and then a few minutes later they'd ask the same question again... I'd say, "Don't you remember asking me that just a few minutes ago?" "No, I didn't!"... I'd answer their question the second time, and, sure enough, a few minutes later, they'd ask the same question a third time, swearing it was the first time they'd asked.

The pot-smokers I knew were all far less responsible than non-smokers, causing a variety of problems, and I eventually had to cut ties to any of them until they quit-- miraculously, the ones that did suddenly became responsible people again.

No, people are not dying from marijuana overdoses, but they are dying from idiots getting behind the wheel of cars and driving in dangerous ways, the same way drunks do. If these developments with genetics are capable of making it possible to produce THC-free hemp for production of rope, cloth, oils and other products, I'm all for it. I just hope there will be some way to prevent it from producing grass that is even more potent than it already is.

Hi All,

If anyone is still reading this, then I would like to clear a few things up.

Just so you know, no Federal tax dollars were directly spent on this project. I completed much of the work while I was on a sabbatical. Every 7th year (at least at the University of Minnesota) professors are allowed to take a year away from their teaching responsibilities (a sabbatical) to pursue new research and to learn new cutting edge technologies. This makes us better teachers. We are still paid during the year but at much reduced rate, so that much of the time we spend on research can be considered voluntary. The supplies that were used in this study were largely supplies left over from other unrelated experiments and would have gone to waste if not used. The research is related to my main focus, which is on how plant hairs (also called trichomes) develop. The goals for my sabbatical were to learn new cutting edge techniques to apply to these studies and to explore the development of hairs on plants that I previously have not studied. It so happened that Dr. George Weiblen, a colleague in my department, holds the only academic license in the US (that I am aware of) from the DEA that allows him to grow Cannabis under very secure conditions. I took advantage of this situation and with help from Dr. Rick Dixon at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation in Ardmore, OK I was able to complete much of the work. In the video link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zXcraaXAMo Dr. Weiblen explains the rationale behind the research. The research was published in the Journal of Experimental Botany and the article is freely available to anyone to download at this link: “jxb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/60/13/3715”. What you will find out from the article is that this work is still preliminary and much work needs to be done before any practical applications can be realized. For example, we still don’t know how to make transgenic Cannibis plants.

Hope this information helps to clear up some of the misconceptions about the
work.

Hey Mark,

Great reading your responce. Genetics research such as yours will enspire others to look deeper into plants, animals and us to help us live better. I feel your research into the gene that creates THC will help all of us who want a sustainable environment to live in either for the ones who want to remove it and to the others who want to make it more potent. Both sides win. This will keep the FEDS on thier toes. Keep up the good work! "Here" -- The shortest word spoken in 2008.

trichomes on the cannabis plant are barely visible to the naked eye and are viewed best at between 15 and 50 x magnification. They look like little balls on the end of a stick and appear transparent. Make no mistake, trichomes will get you high.

The orange/red hairs in the photo at the top of this article DO NOT get you high.

Thanks for those others that cleared this one up as apparently our researcher is the typical ignoramus misleading everyone because in many other plants, trichomes do appear like hairs of similar size/proportion to those shown in the photo above.