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Meds Genetically Modified Marijuana

momofthegoons

Vapor Accessory Addict
Staff member
I'm trying not to channel my innermost @Baron23 with this one.... cause I feel about Monsanto the way he feels about Rosenberg. I think this whole GMO thing Monsanto has going on is in cahoots with Big Pharma. They make us sick with our food so that we have to take pharmaceuticals. And now that we have meds that, in some cases, can be used instead of pharmaceuticals? They're gonna fuck that up for us too. Start saving any seeds...... or maybe start buying in bulk. :argh:

MONSANTO CREATES FIRST GENETICALLY MODIFIED STRAIN OF MARIJUANA

weed.jpg


St-Louis, MO | Monsanto, the multi-billion agribusiness giant, has announced today it has patented the first genetically modified strain of marijuana.

The news that has been welcomed by scientists and leaders of the agriculture business alike as a move forward towards the industrial use of marijuana and hemp products could bring a major shift towards marijuana policies in the U.S.A. and ultimately, to the world.

Under present US federal law, it is illegal to possess, use, buy, sell, or cultivate marijuana, since the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, although it has been decriminalized to some extent in certain states, Monsanto’s interest in the field has been interpreted by experts as the precursor to “a major shift in marijuana policy in the US” as it is believed the company would not have invested so much time and energy if it had not had “previous knowledge” of the Federal government’s “openness” towards the future legalization of marijuana.


Advocates for the legalization of marijuana see the bold move of Monsanto to work on GM marijuana strains as a “great step towards legalization on a massive scale” in the US

Lawyer and marijuana law specialist, Edmund Groensch, of the Drug Policy Alliance, admits Monsanto’s involvement in marijuana projects could definitely help the pro-legalization activists.

“Currently, Federal law criminalizes marijuana and hemp derivatives because public opinion is still against it and legal commercial production in the U.S. is currently handled by a patchwork of small farmers whom are not trusted by investors. A major player as Monsanto could bring confidence within government and towards investors in the market if it were to own a large part of the exploitable lands and commercial products”.


Other experts, such as James Adamson, president of Medical Marijuana Technologies, believe the only way marijuana is to become legal in the US is through the branding of a GM strain

“There is presently no way to control the production of marijuana and the quality of the strains. A GM strain produced by a company with the credentials and prestige of Monsanto would definitely lend a massive hand to pro-legalization activists within certain spheres of government and within the business world” he explains.

Although Monsanto’s testing on cannabis is only at an experimental stage, no plan has yet been released by the agriculture business firm as to what purposes the patented strain would be used for, although specialists believe answers should come this fall as rumors of a controversial new bill which could “loosen up laws around medical marijuana” is reportedly scheduled to pass before congress coming this fall.

Critics fear genetically modified cannabis will mix with other strains and could destroy the diversity of DNA, a reality dismissed by most studies claim experts.

 
Hi @momofthegoons - you going to have to add another whip to those thigh high leather boots if you want to express your inner Baron.....maybe an AK-47 to boot! LOL

I hear ya and I agree.

These guys seem to be trying to establish genotypes for MJ and get them in the public domain before ass-hats like Altria (Phillip Morris) start trying to patent existing genotypes. This is how these guys are going to try to monopolize the market and the more genetic data in the public domain, the better.

http://galaxy.phylosbioscience.com/?source=website
 
Does anybody actually think that the current crop of stoners in the MMJ industry are going to buy Monsanto products? These guys will produce for the mainstream, not the existing culture. Come on FFS, the way most stoners talk about Monsanto, those within the existing cannabis culture are as likely to buy Monsanto cannabis varieties as they are to use Monsanto pesticides in their grows - not remotely possible except by accident :rofl:

Remember, almost all of MMJ has existed underground for a long time. This is the ONLY reason that these large corporates have not entered the industry til now. If we want legalization, we should understand that these companies which buy and pay for our society will have a very large place in a legal cannabis industry. This is how our society works in every other aspect, why would this new industry be different?
 
Does anybody actually think that the current crop of stoners in the MMJ industry are going to buy Monsanto products? These guys will produce for the mainstream, not the existing culture. Come on FFS, the way most stoners talk about Monsanto, those within the existing cannabis culture are as likely to buy Monsanto cannabis varieties as they are to use Monsanto pesticides in their grows - not remotely possible except by accident :rofl:

Remember, almost all of MMJ has existed underground for a long time. This is the ONLY reason that these large corporates have not entered the industry til now. If we want legalization, we should understand that these companies which buy and pay for our society will have a very large place in a legal cannabis industry. This is how our society works in every other aspect, why would this new industry be different?
I don't drink Monsanto wine and while full legalization will indeed bring in major conglomerates, I'm not at all sure that we will indeed have to use GMO MJ cause they dominated the market. As I said, the more genetics in the public domain, the better for all of us, I believe.
 
All signs point to a corporate takeover of the marijuana industry by Bayer, Monsanto

(NaturalNews) Following months of negotiations and various offers, Germany-based Bayer has finally sealed the deal with Monsanto, purchasing the seed giant for $66 billion. The merger is reported to be the largest all-cash deal on record.

The purchase means a lot of things, and none of them good for consumers. For one, it strengthens the monopolization of the world's food supply. It also means more genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and chemicals to be doused on them.

Now, some are predicting the merge could also mean the takeover of the marijuana industry. Monsanto has an intimate business relationship with Scotts Miracle-Gro, "a convicted corporate criminal– and Scott's Miracle-Gro is trying to take over the marijuana industry," according to Big Buds Mag.

Is Monsanto going after the pot industry?
Scott's Miracle-Gro has looked to capitalize on the expanding pot industry in states where the plant has been legalized or decriminalized. The company's CEO, Jim Hagadorn, stated his intentions to spend up to $500 million to completely buy out the marijuana industry.

A Scott's Miracle-Gro front group has already purchased General Hydroponics, Botanicare and Gavita.

"Major hydroponics nutrients, lighting, soil, and other grow equipment manufacturers report they've also been offered takeover bids by Scotts Miracle-Gro or its 'Hawthorne' front company.

"Maximum Yield Magazine, which bans marijuana hydroponics nutrients company Advanced Nutrients from its indoor gardening expo events, welcomed a Monsanto affiliate into its Boston gardening expo several years ago."

Bayer is of course playing a role in this planned monopolization, as well. The German chemical company does business with GW Pharmaceuticals, a company based in the United Kingdom that grows cannabis and produces medicines from its compounds.

Monsanto and Bayer share information on how to genetically engineer cannabis
Bayer sells some of GW Pharmaceuticals' products, including Sativex, a costly medical cannabis spray that's reported to work less effectively than naturally grown pot.

Both Monsanto and Bayer have a history of producing chemical weapons used in war and toxic products, including PCBs, DDT, Agent Orange, Roundup and GMOs.

Members of the cannabis industry have seen the writing on the wall in terms of the world's seed monopolies' interest in marijuana.

"Michael Straumietis, founder and owner of hydroponics nutrients company Advanced Nutrients, has constantly warned the marijuana community about Monsanto, Scotts Miracle-Gro, GMO marijuana, and corporate takeover of the marijuana industry."

The two corporations, which have now merged into one, have agreed to share trade secrets about plans to produce genetically modified marijuana.

Monsanto investor George Soros attempts to legalize pot in Uruguay
"Bayer is partnered with GW Pharmaceuticals, which grows its own proprietary marijuana genetics. You can bet Monsanto and Bayer are interested in creating GMO marijuana," said Straumietis.

Billionaire investor, George Soros, previously waged a campaign to legalize pot in Uruguay so that he could invest in the plant. Soros owns 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock.

"Straumietis says South American governmental insiders report that Monsanto is working there on genetically-modified cannabis, along with pharmaceuticalizing THC, other cannabinoids, and terpenoids."

The hydroponics nutrients owner warns that if biotech giants get involved in the cannabis industry, they'll monopolize it the same way they have the seed, medicine and agricultural chemical industries.

"These corporations have reduced the variety and availability of native seeds. They genetically modify crops so farmers have to buy new seeds every year, and use corporate chemicals like RoundUp to grow them. They'd do the same thing with GMO marijuana," said Straumietis.

:disgust: This upsets me on so many levels.... and considering the new news that Monsanto was unable to prove that Roundup doesn't cause cancer? It just seems like the continuation of the poisoning of Americans imo.

Here's a link to the article regarding Monsanto being unable to prove it's claims about Roundup.
 
Bayer sells some of GW Pharmaceuticals' products, including Sativex, a costly medical cannabis spray that's reported to work less effectively than naturally grown pot.
This comparison is somewhat disingenuous. Less effective for which conditions? Sativex is a distillate of full melt (aka an enriched trichome preparation) that is formulated with ethyl alcohol for solution which allows it to be sprayed. Whilst I am sure that many cannabis concentrates are more effective than this for a variety of conditions, it is very obvious in my own medical experience that flowers (AKA 'naturally grown pot') are often less effective than preparations like sativex, which concentrate the necessary actives (as opposed to flowers which may not have sufficient levels of active compounds prior to concentration). Sativex does contain some terps etc from the resin, and is not a mono-molecular medicine.

GW Pharma are not just some big evil Pharma giant. They (alongside Skunkman Sam, a founder of this company IIRC) are responsible for some of the greatest revolutions in cannabis knowledge. I certainly would not be making the meds that I am now for myself, if not for the breakthrough research literature that GW has given us.

Big business is going to take the lion's share of the cannabis industry regardless. As many have said, this is exactly what we were asking for when we fought for legalization. When you make cannabis a normal commodity in our society, big business naturally runs most of the show. There'll still be places for smaller, organic/artisan vendors and extractors of course, just as we see in other industries that deal in bulk agricultural produce.
 
Good points @herbivore21 They certainly don't substantiate their claims regarding Sativex in any way. And the writer of the article seems to throw that in there for fluff. It really has nothing to do with the meat of the article unless Bayer is trying to buy GW Pharmaceuticals out.

My upset is focused more on Monsanto and Bayer teaming up together. While I realize that there is merit in some pharma medicines, this merger just smacks of trying to change the market to suit their needs. And making GMO cannabis is just the start.
 
Good points @herbivore21 They certainly don't substantiate their claims regarding Sativex in any way. And the writer of the article seems to throw that in there for fluff. It really has nothing to do with the meat of the article unless Bayer is trying to buy GW Pharmaceuticals out.

My upset is focused more on Monsanto and Bayer teaming up together. While I realize that there is merit in some pharma medicines, this merger just smacks of trying to change the market to suit their needs. And making GMO cannabis is just the start.
I understand the concerns, but to be honest, I think that Monsanto and Bayer trying to sell GMO cannabis to the existing cannabis culture would be like trying to sell GMO products at a Phish show - anyone who tries to do so will quickly learn that it is time to find a new business model :dog:
 
Look at all the possible medical and recreational plants and substances we could produce on our own and how many we actually do on the community or individual level. Sadly, the above is a window into the future of MJ in the USA, just another step down the road.
 
This is why I'm working towards the full hippy lifestyle....
I know my government is trying to kill me...

I'm on a caveman diet.... and I am feeling great for it... its how we are supposed to be...
Just meat, fruit and veg...
If man has made or refined it, I dont wanna know...
Soon I will remove myself from the system all together....
I will produce nearly everything myself, be almost self sufficient, and live a long and healthy life....
Not poisened to an early grave, (not so early that i can't pay my share of tax, but early enough that I can't claim any back), so as not to clog up the system..
 
Well... we knew it was coming.

Introducing, the World’s First True GMO Weed Plant

Introducing, the World’s First True GMO Weed Plant


And no, Monsanto didn’t make it.
Well, after years of sensationalist false alarms, it’s finally here: genetically modified cannabis for the commercial market.
Created by Trait Biosciences, the world’s first truly transformed marijuana plant has arrived. A cannabis biotech firm based in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Trait designed the plant to produce water-soluble cannabinoids, which they claim confers several industrial benefits that companies can’t get from the naturally bred plant.
Conventional techniques to create water-soluble cannabinoids — cannabinoids like CBD and THC that can dissolve in water — usually involve emulsifying cannabis extracts, which is basically mixing them into starches. Trait’s proprietary plants generate the dissolvable cannabinoids inside of the cannabis itself, so there's no need to chemically modify the molecules after costly and hazardous extraction processes.
But, before we dive into this biotechnological marvel (or Dankenstein, depending on how you feel about genetic modification), let’s review what makes something genetically modified (GM) and what doesn’t.
1563548897665_trait-biosciences-lab-new-mexico-los-alamos-merry-jane.jpg

Trait Biosciences headquarters in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Image courtesy of Trait Biosciences.
A Primer on Genetic Engineering

Less biotech-savvy cannabis activists will claim that GM weed has been on the market for years, often parroting the same “naturalistic” claims invented by the biotech industry itself. According to this (erroneous) belief, nature has essentially been “genetically modifying” plants since, well, forever. But that’s not true. Frankly, that’s a marketing line invented to make the public more amenable to GM crops.



In the sciences (not private industries), genetic modification or engineering refers to artificial methods of splicing either human-made genes or genes from foreign organisms into another living being. Genetic modification can also refer to "shotgun" techniques, where an organism is showered in radiation or metallic pellets that carry the genes in question. Novel life forms created this way are called genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.


People often confuse GMOs with artificially selected organisms. Examples of artificial selection, or selective breeding, include domesticated dogs or certain crops like berries, broccoli, bananas — and cannabis. Artificial selection uses cross-breeding techniques to amplify desired genes in an organism’s offspring, usually through inbreeding, but not always.



Regardless of how artificial selection is performed, it always relies on traditional breeding techniques (e.g. pollinating flowers, getting two dogs to mate), and it never introduces foreign or human-made genes into the parents or their offspring.

Genetic modification or engineering, on the other hand, does not use traditional breeding techniques. Done in a laboratory environment, organisms are subject to highly sophisticated methods that weave foreign genes into their DNA. If the organism can pass on those foreign genes to its offspring, we say the organism is “fully transformed.”

How Trait Biosciences' Weed Plant Is Different

Trait’s patent-pending cannabis plant could have major implications for the burgeoning cannabis industry. In agriculture, GM crops are usually designed to resist pesticides, herbicides, or extreme environmental conditions. Instead, Trait has introduced a cannabis plant that fundamentally alters the chemical composition of its most valued components: the cannabinoids.

“To our knowledge, this is the first truly stabilized, ‘transformed’ cannabis plant,” Ronan Levy, Trait’s Chief Strategy Officer, told MERRY JANE during a phone interview. “There have been transient ones, but the genes have not passed down to further generations.”

One of these transformation attempts happened in 2012. A research group led by Dr. Imane Wahby, PhD, used agrobacterium to introduce foreign genes into cannabis plant tissue, namely the roots. Although the foreign genes made it into the tissue’s DNA, the genes likely couldn't pass on to offspring (a "transient transformation," as Levy called it). That’s probably because cannabis evolved to maintain its internal genetics, and plants that can self-pollinate by becoming hermaphrodites (like weed) often circumvent attempts to fully transform them.



1563549250339_iStock-1039553540.jpg


Trait's water-soluble cannabis technology falls under two product lines, Trait Distilled and Trait Amplified. Trait Distilled focuses on crafting edible and drinkable products using the company's water-soluble cannabinoids. Trait Amplified refers to the GM plants themselves.

Trait has more product lines, too. Trait Defense uses biotechnological methods to protect its cannabis from viruses, bacteria, and molds. Trait Tailored offers customized cannabis that produces specific cannabinoids levels or ratios, e.g. plants that always crank out 30 percent THC, or weed that always balances a 1-to-1 THC-to-CBD ratio. And the company's Trait Zero line promises hemp plants that never produce THC, period.

Levy credits the success of Trait’s GM plants to Dr. Richard Sayre, the company’s Chief Science Officer. You’ve probably never heard of Sayre, but within the agricultural science community, the guy is a legend. Much of his groundbreaking work focused on harnessing electricity from algae, but now Dr. Sayre has brought his biotechnological prowess to the cannabis scene.

Sayre “realized when the plant synthesizes cannabinoids, there’s a toxic element to it,” Levy continued. “There’s a reason why they're only synthesized in the bud and stored in the trichomes. Production of cannabinoids is toxic to the plant.” Normally, cannabis produces the bulk of its cannabinoids and terpenes in the bud's trichomes, which are oily sacs that grow along and inside of the flowers. This is because both cannabinoids and terpenes are naturally fat-soluble, meaning they dissolve in fats or oils. If these fat-soluble cannabinoids and terpenes were made in the plant's stems, leaves, etc., it could compromise the plant's health by affecting its ability to absorb carbon dioxide, release oxygen, or transpire water — the plant version of sweating.



While Levy's previous statement may offend some folks’ pro-cannabis sensibilities, it’s true. Previous research shows that if cannabis cells are exposed to unnaturally concentrated amounts of cannabinoids, they will die. As toxicologists say, toxicity has little to do with a molecule’s nature and much more to do with the dose. After all, drinking too much water can be toxic to the human body, even though 70 to 80 percent of our bodies are composed of water.

1563549446942_iStock-1034364578.jpg


According to a patent filing, Trait’s lab team laid out how mutant genes for an enzyme called cytochrome P450 — the same enzyme that breaks down drugs in our livers — and a glycosyltransferase enzyme could convert cannabinoids into water-soluble form within the cannabis plant itself. When the mutant glycosyltransferase binds to a cannabinoid like CBD, it attaches a simple sugar molecule to the cannabinoid through a process called glycosolation. Cannabinoids rocking this sugar attachment are called glycosolated cannabinoids. This development had several consequences for the plant and Trait’s manufacturing processes, with just one being cannabinoids that dissolve in water.

“If you glycosylate the cannabinoids in the plant, you can detoxify the cannabinoid synthesis process,” Levy said, “which potentially enables the plant to synthesize and store cannabinoids in every cell of the plant, not just the trichomes.”

In other words, Levy is saying that every part of Trait’s cannabis plants could produce cannabinoids. This includes the leaves, stems, and roots. And since cannabis doesn’t rely on cannabinoids for its sustenance, Levy contends that these glycosolated compounds don’t compromise the plant’s health or survivability.



Levy also argues that because Trait’s plants produce cannabinoids inside and outside of the flower's trichomes, they can generate greater cannabinoid yields than traditionally bred plants, up to five times more. The company extracts the glycosolated cannabinoids from the plant material using an industrial press, the same technique used to get sugar out of sugarcane.

“You don’t have to wait for the flowering phase to harvest the plant,” he said. “So the growth cycle is shorter. And because [the cannabinoids are] growing in stalks, stems, roots, and leaves, in theory, you can adopt a continuous harvest approach — taking off leaves and stalks from a plant without having to start with a new plant.”

Basically, Trait’s GM plants could be farmed for their cannabinoids in virtual perpetuity, since the initiation of the flowering stage is what ultimately tells the plant to die sometime in its near future. Theoretically, this same setup should work for THC as it does for CBD, but for now, Trait is only focusing on CBD.

1563549638291_iStock-1132646374.jpg


What’s the Point of Making Water-Soluble Cannabinoids?

Trait’s GM plants are ideal for crafting drinkables, or beverage products that contain cannabinoids like CBD or THC. Drinkables already exist, but companies currently make them by using high-pressure homogenization (as is done with milk), sonication (sound waves), or emulsification (mixing cannabinoids with starches) to get the cannabis extract to disperse in water.

But some companies have made cannabinoids dissolve better than others. While some weed beverages are “shelf-stable,” meaning cannabinoids remain suspended and invisible in water, others aren’t so efficient. For instance, you may notice that in some drinkables, the extract collects at the bottom of the bottle or the drink will appear cloudy when shaken. Levy explained that drinkables made from Trait Amplified’s cannabinoids would contain truly 100 percent water-soluble cannabinoids — no shaking required.



Furthermore, Levy said the most popular method of infusing drinkables could carry some health risks — risks he claims may not be present in Trait’s products.

“Nanoemulsification [is usually used] to create clear [cannabis] beverages, but using nanotechnology opens up a whole host of health concerns,” he said. “Concerns range from nanoparticles crossing the blood-brain barrier, getting into the thyroid gland, et cetera. That tech can be very useful, for instance, for getting drugs to specific cancer cells. But in food products, or in the case of cannabis products, you really have to question if nanotechnology is safe enough just to have a clear beverage.”

And if you’re wondering if you can get high from smoking or eating Trait’s weed leaves or roots, Levy said the company hasn’t tested that in human subjects — yet. But other research on orally ingested glycosolated THC and CBD show that these compounds rapidly hit the brain within minutes, with peak effects subsiding after about an hour and a half. That's roughly the same psychoactive timeline of an alcohol buzz — which, right now, is the final goal for every drinkables manufacturer: to create a weed beverage that kicks in and wears off in the same manner as booze.

How Did Trait Biosciences Create These Plants?

Several methods exist for genetically modifying plants. To transform cannabis, plants can be exposed to chemicals that generate random mutations in the DNA, have foreign genes shot into them with tiny metallic pellets, or have their genes tweaked with newer splicing technologies like TALENs or CRISPR. According to Trait's scientists, Dr. Sayre's group relied on one of the first and most reliable methods for genetically modifying weed: agrobacterium.



Agrobacterium refers to a genus, or generalized group, of bacteria known for causing tumors in plants. The bacteria do this by inserting their DNA, or plasmids, into the host plant. In the '70s, scientists realized if they deleted the tumor-causing portion of the bacterial plasmid, they could splice other genes into the agrobacterium, essentially turning the microorganisms into minature machines that can alter a plant's DNA.

But is Trait Biosciences the first team to fully transform cannabis? To find out, MERRY JANE spoke with Dr. Darryl Hudson, PhD, a cannabis geneticist who cofounded InPlanta Biotechnology, a cannabis breeding company, with another weed scientist, Dr. Igor Kovalchuk.

“I don’t believe that it’s true," Hudson said about Trait's claim to being the first. "I believe other people have done it, just not necessarily published it or patented it. Some of us are a little more quiet about the things we’ve been doing."

Hudson and Kovalchuk both belong to this camp of quiet inventors. Hudson first performed gene-knockouts — "turning off" genes so they don't express themselves in the plant — in 2005. For the past 13 years, he and his business partner have altered cannabis DNA using a variety of methods, including agrobacterium.

"My issue, though, is who cares who was first?" Hudson continued. "In cannabis, everyone wants to be the first and the biggest, the baddest, the best. And to what end? At the end of the day, the person who grows the most cannabis and helps the most people, those are the ones who are going to win."



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Hudson wasn't convinced that Trait's market strategy, to infuse water-soluble cannabinoids into edibles and beverages, is a great use of genetic modification, either. “It’s just interesting that a lot of people make assumptions in cannabis about what people will want, like water-soluble cannabinoids. I read that, and I laugh at it. There’s a dispensary in California that’s carried weed drinks for a while, and they found that people don’t like drinking cannabinoids," he said.

“Nobody wants to be falling off their stool ten minutes after they showed up at the bar. That’s what’s going to happen," he added, referring to the higher bioavailabity and activity of water-soluble cannabinoids. "When you’re drunk, your friends can carry you home, so you can sleep it off. Now, you’ve got to carry someone home who’s also got strong anxiety and paranoia? It’s not going to be a fun experiment.”

Hudson did agree with Levy's assessment that that glycosolated cannabinoids may enhance the effectiveness of certain cancer treatments, as researchers could modify water-soluble cannabinoids to target specific organs or tissues, delivering cannabis medications directly to a patient's cancer cells. However, Hudson argued that terpenes, not cannabinoids alone, are more important for cannabis's medical efficacy.

1563822995170_iStock-1162297579.jpg


Regardless of who did what first, or for what purpose, Trait Biosciences can stake the claim on providing the first genetically modified weed plants for the commercial market. Or, at the very least, Trait is the first to openly admit such. And for anyone concerned that the company's water-soluble genetics may accidentally escape and spread to other cannabis outside of its secured facility, Trait assured MERRY JANE that wasn't likely.



“There are a number of well-established protocols and practices that we use to ensure that plants do not propagate in the wild,” Levy wrote in a follow-up email, “including male-sterile pollen that is under the control of a gene switch.” In other words, Trait’s plants don’t produce viable pollen, so they can't reproduce sexually, which otherwise could spread Trait's specialized genes to other, non-Trait cannabis plants. To generate new plants carrying the modified genes, someone would need to tissue culture or clone Trait's cannabis. Theoretically.

In the past, there have been a few instances of GM crops (not Trait's) contaminating the genetics of other, non-modified crops. This happens when the GM plants' pollen was carried by the wind, such as from trucks transporting the GM plants. Completely containing Trait's Amplified plants down to the genetic level may seem like a lot of work just to make weed molecules that dissolve in water. Yet genetically modifying the plant itself could be more cost-effective than other biotechnological approaches to making water-soluble weed, like using GM yeast or E. coli.

“Yeast is inefficient” for producing cannabinoids, Dr. Phillipe Henry, PhD, the Chief Science Officer at VSSL, a North American cannabis genomics firm, told MERRY JANE over the phone. “That’s probably why [Trait Biosciences] switched to this system.

“It’s possible to have an entire plant producing glycosolated cannabinoids,” Henry continued, “but I don’t see much commercial appeal on the recreational marijuana side.” Like Hudson, Henry doesn't see bankable market potential in drinkables, either.

Although many cannabis activists rabidly tout the plant's medicinal benefits, Trait is keeping mum on Amplified's potential medical applications, if any exist. Meanwhile, on the recreational side, drinkables remain one of the least popular sectors of the regulated cannabis industry. Perhaps that will change as prohibition fades and the culture progresses. Or, maybe it won’t.

But one thing is certain: GMO weed is now a thing. Purists may protest, but I'll drink to that.
 
Here we go again....

Odorless marijuana: The next big trend or just hype?

A Canadian startup claims odorless weed will help consumers. But is it appropriate for medical patients?

A company out of Brampton, Ontario, Canada claims it can create a product that “greatly reduces” the smell of marijuana as it burns. In addition, the smell of stored dried flower will be “virtually undetectable.”

A company out of Brampton, Ontario, Canada claims it can create a product that “greatly reduces” the smell of marijuana as it burns. In addition, the smell of stored dried flower will be “virtually undetectable.”iStock / Getty Images Plus

Because social stigmas around cannabis usage remain prevalent for medical and recreational users, the concept of a marijuana bud without a “dank,” pungent aroma could be appealing to consumers.

A company out of Brampton, Ontario, Canada claims it can create a product that “greatly reduces” the smell of marijuana as it burns. In addition, the smell of stored dried flower will be “virtually undetectable.”

PURECANN, which is what Canadian startup CannabCo is calling the odorless weed, was originally created to reduce the harshness typically associated with smoking marijuana. Anyone who took a puff that induced a coughing fit can attest to the sensation. But that effect is exactly what has made marijuana undesirable for medical patients who possess no prior smoking experience. Odorless marijuana could help patients who wish to avoid stares and hushed criticism when needing to step outside a function, personal or business, for a quick smoke break.

Here’s where things get interesting. CannabCo CEO Mark Pellicane said in a statement, “When we saw the technology in action and the end result, we realized there were a number of potential markets associated with the use of PURECANN.” Instead of just helping patients receive their medicine, the company wants odorless marijuana to become the newest trend in the industry.

“Imagine someone going outside for a break during the day, having their afternoon cannabis and coming back without any odor attached to their clothing or coat.” Pellicane said. “A woman can carry cannabis in her purse without having the odour concentrated or leaking out in her handbag. A number of users, and people that are around cannabis smokers, complain about the smell especially in enclosed areas, condos, and apartments, and this technology addresses those concerns.”

This is complicated. Because on one hand, helping patients gain access to medicine they need is something worth promoting. But on the other, this almost seems like a stop gap to help marijuana users disassociate from negative stigmas around cannabis. Isn’t a more noble cause to educate society on why smoking marijuana shouldn’t be frowned upon? Avoiding the smell of weed is only necessary when laws prohibit its usage. Obviously that isn’t much of a concern in Canada, which has legalized recreational cannabis, as it is in the United States.

We’ll wait until the product is ready for testing to see if it’s appropriate or helpful for patients. Until then, we’re not buying the hype for odorless weed.
 
Yeah, if they can figure out how to remove the munchies from MJ people will beat a path to their door and my Dr will happier when they weight me!! Haha

But seriously, I would love that!!
 

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