DEA seeks candidates to grow cannabis

Wanted: People to grow cannabis for the federal government. Benefits: A multimillion-dollar contract and a chance to advance medical research. Requirements: The ability to manage the costs and challenges of growing an illegal drug for the federal government.

And that’s the real conundrum of this announcement. For more than 40 years, the University of Mississippi was the only institution with a government license to grow cannabis for federal scientific research. But as of August, the DEA (the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration) has announced plans to grant cultivation permits to other producers, in an effort to increase the supply and variety of cannabis available for research.

But no one is applying. A dozen agricultural schools were contacted, including some with programs in industrial hemp cultivation. They weren't interested.

The eligibility requirements are likely the reason. To apply for the program, candidates must demonstrate that they can implement strict security measures to protect the cannabis and be prepared to comply with a whole host of requirements. Depending on the size of the plantation, this will require significant investment. Some experts estimate the cost at several million dollars. So it may not necessarily be worth the effort.

And current growers have no reason to apply either. Their very existence—permitted by states that have legalized medical or recreational cannabis and granted licenses to certain producers—violates federal law. Participation in the program could therefore backfire on them under federal law.

You would therefore have to be new to the market and have never violated the Controlled Substances Act (Controlled Substances Act). It is therefore conceivable that GW Pharmaceutical—the company behind Sativex and Epidiolex, which grows its raw materials in the United Kingdom—might take an interest in this large market.

In any case, the DEA is still looking for growers. The agency has not set a deadline for its recruitment process and has stated that it only wants enough cannabis to meet research needs—nothing more.

Once growers have received their licenses from the DEA, another concern will arise: where will they source their plants to start their first crop? They could obtain clones from the University of Mississippi, but that would not expand the range of genetics available for scientific studies. Or they could purchase seeds or plants from Canada or Israel, with the appropriate authorizations. Or they could source them from a current producer, with the DEA’s approval.

In any case, the agency announced that it «would require producers to obtain their seeds from a legal source, and that the DEA would help new producers do so.».