The Rundown

The DEA’s announcement was a response to two new petitions asking the agency to reclassify cannabis. The plant is currently a Schedule I illegal drug. Substances in that category are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

Schedule I drugs are also considered the most dangerous of all drugs and they are usually accompanied by the heaviest criminal charges.

Critics of the U.S.’s cannabis laws have repeatedly asked the DEA to move marijuana out of the Schedule I category. Nevertheless, the agency once again denied those requests.

Here’s how the DEA explained its decision. “Marijuana will remain a schedule I controlled substance,” the agency said in a statement. “It does not have a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is a lack of accepted safety for its use under medical supervision, and it has a high potential for abuse.”

DEA Attempts To Improve Cannabis Research

The DEA sad it will try to make it easier for scientists to study cannabis. Under current rules only the University of Mississippi can grow cannabis for research purposes. Many researchers say this system creates a lot of challenges that make it hard to carry out effective studies.

Now, the DEA it will allow more universities to grow cannabis for use in research. The agency said the change will make it possible for more research to be completed. If that research can produce enough evidence, the DEA said it might reconsider its decision.

“If the scientific understanding about marijuana changes—and it could change—then the decision could change,” the DEA’s statement said.

Critics Wanted More

Pro-cannabis lawmakers and activists said the DEA’s newest decisions simply aren’t enough.

“I welcome the decision to lessen barriers to marijuana research,” Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer said in a statement. Blumenauer helped to organize the most recent petitions to reclassify cannabis.

“However, this decision doesn’t go far enough and is further evidence that the DEA doesn’t get it. Keeping marijuana at Schedule I continues an outdated, failed approach.”

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Phylos Bioscience, the startup company, and its chief scientific officer Mowgli Holmes have been talking about mapping marijuana genomes for years. However Phylos finally launched its guide—called the Galaxy—on Wednesday.

With the Galaxy, users can view the hereditary sequence of each plant by following lines that connect strains to their genetic parent or offspring. Similar plants are located close to each other, while color groups the plants into “tribes” based on their region.

Preparations for this project have stretched over two years, as Phylos has worked to sample plants, sequence their DNA and develop the software that would allow the Galaxy to function.

The strain results outlined in the 3-D data analysis have been individually sequenced, separating this guide from cannabis catalog websites such as Leafly, Weedmaps and Verdabase.

Holmes first told WW about his cannabis genome research in January 2015.

At WW’s TechFestNW conference last year, Holmes took the stage to expound on how genome research allows us to understand the history of interbred cannabis plants.

“Cannabis is being pushed to a point in the evolutionary landscape that it never would’ve gotten on its own,” Holmes said to the crowd.

But the data collection will also help with patent protection, a legal anxiety that has been leeching onto growers since the first cannabis plant was patented in August 2015.

Marijuana is subject to the same statutes as any other agricultural patents—simply, that the genome must be characteristically different than the naturally occurring counterpart.

Marijuana growers are worried about protecting intellectual property rights, especially from the patent techniques of seed-trade powerhouse Monsanto.

Monsanto has responded to this suspicion on their website, chalking their involvement in the production of GMO marijuana up to “an Internet rumor.”

But White expects Monsanto and similar companies to seek weed patents.

“We think Big Pharma and Big Ag will be the primary audience after patents, and it will likely require writing new DNA in to the plant,” White tells WW. “None of the folks at Phylos really see patenting as a viable tool for the average breeder.”

Holmes and Phylos want to push more information on that DNA into the public domain.

“You can’t patent anything that’s been in the public domain longer than a year,” White explains.

Within the next several months, Phylos will launch their commercial sequencing product, allowing any grower, consumer, or curious individual to send in a sample and let Holmes and his staff research it. The sample will receive a placement on the Galaxy, as well as special access and metadata to further understand that strain.

“We set out to bring more knowledge and transparency to the industry and that’s still what we’re doing,” says White.

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