Q. WHAT EXACTLY DOES THE MARIJUANA PROJECT DO?

A. Though cannabis had been used by man for [...]]]> The New York Times had question-and-answer interview last Tuesday, December 22, 2008 with Mahmoud A. Elsohly, who grows marijuana for research purposes. He talks about the improved quality of cannabis in Northern California, thanks to growers using modern genetics techniques.

Q. WHAT EXACTLY DOES THE MARIJUANA PROJECT DO?

A. Though cannabis had been used by man for thousands of years, it wasn’t until 1964 that the actual chemical structure of the active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol — THC — was determined. That stimulated new research on the plant.

At this laboratory, which began in 1968, we often investigate marijuana’s chemistry. We also have a farm where we grow cannabis for federally approved researchers. Our material is employed in clinical studies around the country, to see if the active ingredient in this plant is useful for pain, nausea, glaucoma, for AIDS patients and so on. For these tests, researchers need standardized material for cigarettes or THC pills. We grow the cannabis as contractors for the National Institute on Drug Abuse — NIDA. And the only researchers who can get our material are those with special permits. We have visitors at the building now and then who ask, “Oh, do you give samples?” We say, “No!”

Q. WHY BOTHER CULTIVATING YOUR OWN MARIJUANA WHEN LAW ENFORCEMENT ORGANIZATIONS SEIZE BRICKS OF IT EVERY DAY?

A. The most obvious reason is that with confiscated marijuana, you don’t really know what you have. When researchers are performing clinical tests, they must have standardized material that will be the same every time. And it must be safe. You certainly wouldn’t want to give a sick person something sprayed with pesticide or angel dust, substances we’ve detected in some illicit marijuana.

When this project first started in the late 1960s, people thought, “Oh, we’ll get materials for testing after a big bust happens.” So the first batch was acquired that way. They made an extract out of the seized material, and it turned out to be contaminated with tung oil. That brought home the point: if you’re going to do clinical trials on humans, you’d better know what you’re using and where it came from. Hence, our farm.

Another thing: pharmaceutical researchers are often looking at something they call “the dose response.” They want to know what happens to a patient smoking a marijuana cigarette with 1 percent THC versus 2 percent or 8 percent. Without standardized material, you can’t accurately test which produced the best or worst result.

Q. ONE OF THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF AGRONOMY IS TO START WITH GOOD SEEDS. WHERE DO YOUR SEEDS COME FROM?

A. That’s a very good question. Most of the illicit material in the 1960s came from Mexico. So, in collaboration with the D.E.A. and the Mexican government, we acquired those seeds. Later, we acquired others from Colombia, Thailand, Jamaica, India, Pakistan and places in the Middle East. That permitted us to study chemical and botanical differences. By 1976, we were growing about 96 different varieties.

Interestingly, that led us to see that there was only one species of cannabis. It had always been thought that there were many. But you could see that the chemistry of this plant is the same qualitatively no matter where it comes from. What makes each different is the relative proportion of the different chemicals in there, which doesn’t make a different species. It’s really the same species, but different varieties of it. The different types of varieties hybridize very easily.

Q. DOES THIS MEAN THAT ONE COULD MAKE GENETICALLY MODIFIED CANNABIS?

A. Yes. Absolutely. That actually has been the trend over the years in the cultivation in the illicit market, and also in the legal market, where we are doing genetic selection, where we select specific materials that have the genes that produce higher levels of THC or some of the other ingredients.

Q. SO OUT THERE IN RURAL NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, HAVE THEY BEEN IMPROVING THEIR CROPS WITH MODERN GENETICS?

A. They have been doing genetic selection for years. You can see the potency keeps going up. In the 1970s, the seized marijuana had probably 1 percent or less of the active ingredient. Now, it’s about 8 percent, on the average.

Mendocino County sheriff’s deputies arrested eight Sacramento-area men Friday on suspicion of robbing at gunpoint a Laytonville man who grew marijuana in his garden for medical use.

The men, who range [...]]]> The SacBee with the story of eight men who tried to steal cannabis from a man who was growing plants for his own personal use. (SacBee)

Mendocino County sheriff’s deputies arrested eight Sacramento-area men Friday on suspicion of robbing at gunpoint a Laytonville man who grew marijuana in his garden for medical use.

The men, who range in age from 18 to 24, are from Citrus Heights, Elk Grove and Sacramento, and are facing armed robbery and conspiracy charges.

Detectives said the men learned about marijuana growing in Mendocino from reading the High Times, a magazine about marijuana.

They took six large plants – equivalent to 10 pounds of processed marijuana, said Sheriff Tom Allman. Each pound is valued at $3,000, he said.

The men were apprehended on Highway 101 and booked into the Mendocino County jail.

The apprehended:

• Adam Jin Casey, 21, Citrus Heights
• Todd William Hess, 22, Citrus Heights
• Alan Paul Roach, 18, Citrus Heights
• Ray Anderson, 20, Citrus Heights
• Brandon Gregory Bunning, 21, Citrus Heights
• Francis Strasser-King, 24, Citrus Heights
• Michael Cameron Ferrigno, 23, Elk Grove
• Samir Elie Nayebkhil, 21, Sacramento

Several hundred marijuana plants were discovered on two neighboring ranches near Soulajule Reservoir in the past two weeks. The plants—found on Robert Gambonini and Phil Dolcini’s properties—were cultivated in small clusters in remote areas.

“They are doing small grows rather than large ones and putting them in really obscure places,” [...]]]> From the The Point Reyes Light:

Several hundred marijuana plants were discovered on two neighboring ranches near Soulajule Reservoir in the past two weeks. The plants—found on Robert Gambonini and Phil Dolcini’s properties—were cultivated in small clusters in remote areas.

“They are doing small grows rather than large ones and putting them in really obscure places,” said Lieutenant Don Wick of the Marin County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday. “This is a new trend to me.”

** FIVE MILLION Marijuana Plants were eradicated in California in 2007, according to the Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program.

According to The Herald, this is becoming a common occerence, since “in July authorities destroyed a patch of [...]]]> The Monterey County Herald reports that local Carmel Valley authorities announced that “ Agents with the Monterey County Marijuana Eradication Team destroyed about 16,000 plants discovered growing in the forest off Robinson Canyon and Carmel Valley roads.”

According to The Herald, this is becoming a common occerence, since “in July authorities destroyed a patch of about 32,000 and in August another 6,500 plants.“

Officials from the U.S. Forest Service, with assistance from the Sheriff’s Department and the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement’s task force, retrieved a total of 9,285 plants from the area near [...]]]> The Victorville Daily Press on the recent bust of a San Bernardino cannabis growing operation, the 12th such site found in San Bernardino in 2008…

Officials from the U.S. Forest Service, with assistance from the Sheriff’s Department and the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement’s task force, retrieved a total of 9,285 plants from the area near Heaps Peak between Running Springs and Lake Arrowhead, Forest Service officials said.

Investigators had been conducting aerial surveillance over the canyon below Heap’s Peak for about three months, officials said. Three illegal immigrants from Mexico still unidentified by name were arrested in connection with the pot farm early last week, and there may be additional suspects, Miller said.

More than 114,000 marijuana plants have been removed from local outdoor marijuana farms in the San Bernardino National Forest this year, official said.