The long road to researching cannabis
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The long road to researching cannabis

In late 2016, a former Navy SEAL named George Hodgin was in the final months of completing a graduate degree from Stanford Business School and was trying to work out what to do upon its completion. Like many veterans of the US armed services, Hodgin knew plenty of fellow vets suffering from the effects of service-related PTSD. Read more →

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For 60 years the DEA has blocked cannabis research in the US
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For 60 years the DEA has blocked cannabis research in the US

It seems like yet another Orwellian twist on reality. In a country where 200 million people have some legal access to cannabis, where a dozen states have full legal markets, where over 67% of the population supports legal cannabis, the DEA still blocks anyone except growers at one small farm at the University of Mississippi from growing cannabis for research purposes. This means that most US scientists trying to examine how cannabis treats pain, or PTSD or cancer are prohibited from buying or researching the products they need to do their work. Listen to the episode →

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One doctor vs. the DEA: Inside the battle to study marijuana in America
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One doctor vs. the DEA: Inside the battle to study marijuana in America

Early in Dr. Sue Sisley’s medical career, military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder told her that smoking marijuana prevented nightmares and helped them sleep. Sisley, a primary care physician and psychiatrist in Scottsdale, Arizona, who has treated vets for two decades, said she was initially skeptical of her patients’ claims, but their families vouched that pot was helping with their symptoms. Read more →

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Cannabis for research: The great silence
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Cannabis for research: The great silence

Since the 1960s there has only ever been one federally licensed farm that grows cannabis for researchers, and it’s at the University of Mississippi. In 2016, the US Drug Enforcement Administration announced that it would license additional growers, and more than thirty entities rushed in from all over the world to apply. Read more →

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BRC imports the 1st ever cannabis flower from Latin America
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BRC imports the 1st ever cannabis flower from Latin America

A shipment of medical marijuana from South America has arrived in the United States — and it's all right with the feds. Biopharmaceutical Research Company — a California-based marijuana research lab that is one of 33 DEA applicants to grow Schedule I research marijuana — received a shipment of marijuana grown by Uruguayan-based medical marijuana company Fotmer Life Sciences. Read more →

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BRC imports the 1st ever legal cannabis flower from Europe
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BRC imports the 1st ever legal cannabis flower from Europe

One of the top advocates for allowing U.S. companies to grow cannabis for research purposes has imported a batch from the Netherlands, saying he had no choice because of the lack of progress at home.

California-based Biopharmaceutical Research Co., founded by former Navy SEAL George Hodgin, legally imported a small quantity of marijuana from Bedrocan International last month to use for scientific analysis with the goal of better understanding the plant. Read more →

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BRC and Washington State University to partner to study cannabis
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BRC and Washington State University to partner to study cannabis

Washington State University researchers and Biopharmaceutical Research Company (BRC) will partner to evaluate cannabis and accelerate the pace of cannabis research. The innovative partnership allows WSU scientists, many of whom are part of the university’s Collaborative for Cannabis Policy, Research and Outreach (CCPRO), greater access to cannabis for research purposes while remaining fully compliant with federal regulations governing cannabis. Read more →

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