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 b0red5tiff
i deliver the news
Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 9,324
Loc: \m/
Last seen: 2 minutes, 13 seconds
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 Biochemical Research Into Opium Poppy And Cannabis Goes Underground
#7583432 - 11/01/07 10:00 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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http://www.medilexicon.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=87393
The world's leading expert on the opium poppy has joined forces with researchers working on another infamous drug-producing plant -- cannabis -- in hopes of finding new uses for the much-maligned sources of heroin and marijuana.
Peter Facchini, professor of Biological Sciences and Canada Research Chair in Plant Biotechnology, has received a $650,000 NSERC Strategic Project Grant to create new varieties of opium poppy and cannabis that can be used for medicinal and industrial purposes, but will have no value as illicit drugs. And his work is taking him where few Canadians have gone before: Deep underground into the country's ultra high-security medicinal marijuana growth facility.
"It's certainly unusual for a plant biochemist to work in a copper mine hundreds of metres underground," Facchini said. "This is a really great project that involves two of the world's most important medicinal plants and is clearly unique in the plant biology field."
Facchini and a new team of U of C postdoctoral researchers have teamed up with Saskatoon-based Prairie Plant Systems Inc., the National Research Council -- Plant Biotechnology Institute, the Alberta Research Council and the University of Saskatchewan to create and study mutant varieties of opium poppy and cannabis in an unused portion of a copper and zinc mine near Flin Flon, Manitoba. Prairie Plant Systems produces medicinal marijuana under contract with Health Canada in this state-of-the-art facility.
Despite awareness of the importance of crop diversification for the long-term success of agriculture in Canada, few plants are cultivated for the production of high-value bioproducts. Opium poppy accumulates the alkaloids morphine, codeine and thebaine, and cannabis produces psychoactive cannabinoids and is used as a source of high-quality fiber and oil. The domestic market for codeine, morphine and oxycodone, which is derived from thebaine, is in excess of $1.6 billion annually, all of which is currently imported. "Canada is well-positioned to support the development of new crops cultivated for the production of valuable bioproducts, such as pharmaceuticals and fibers," says Facchini. The research will identify novel genes for use in the metabolic engineering of opium poppy to accumulate high-value pharmaceutical alkaloids and to block cannabinoid production in cannabis. The latter will allow for a safe, legal, made-in-Canada cannabis crop that will have virtually none of the mind-altering chemical of marijuana but can be grown for hemp fibre, oil and food.
"The overall theme of this work is to modify plants to make them more useful as crops and chemical factories," Facchini said. "Alberta is quickly becoming a leader in this area, especially in the area of biofuels. The immense potential of plants as sources of high-value bioproducts for the agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors also needs attention."
The Biosecure Underground Growth Chamber is in a mine owned by Hudson Bay Smelting & Mining Co. Ltd. Facchini says it is a superb venue for his research. "It's not what you would picture an old mine shaft to be. It's clean and well-lit, it's kept at a constant temperature and it's one of the most secure places in the country," he says. "It gives a whole new meaning to 'mining our data.'"
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there is no pill, piece, puzzle, solution
pulse, reaction, inhilation, exhale, gag
fall out, retarding, pussyhole theory
you fucking dumb fuck
Get killed
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You know... I've been lying awake at night. I feel... like I'm sleeping... but I'm awake. That's when I hear him. And lately, when I hear him... all at once... I understand. Everything. John, do you remember the last time you were happy?
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 RoosterCogburn
Fearless,one-eyed U.S.Marshall
Registered: 08/25/06
Posts: 4,600
Loc: Dirty South, NJ
Last seen: 2 hours, 16 minutes
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Re: Biochemical Research Into Opium Poppy And Cannabis Goes Underground [Re: b0red5tiff]
#7583441 - 11/01/07 10:05 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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I say we find this place a raid it... like weed ninjas.
This is good news tho, in the grand scheme maybe it will make a difference someday.
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kidaihuan
Psychedelic Activist
Registered: 07/25/07
Posts: 1,803
Loc: Shanghai, China
Last seen: 10 minutes, 13 seconds
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Re: Biochemical Research Into Opium Poppy And Cannabis Goes Underground [Re: RoosterCogburn]
#7584086 - 11/01/07 01:32 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Wait...
They are paying him $650,000 to make a strain of marijuana without THC, so that they can use it for 'hemp fibre, food, and oil'?
Why can't they just use hemp?
Quote:
The latter will allow for a safe, legal, made-in-Canada cannabis crop that will have virtually none of the mind-altering chemical of marijuana but can be grown for hemp fibre, oil and food.
Someone's parents dropped their baby on their head.
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Reality is a crutch for people who can't cope with psychedelics.
Edited by kidaihuan (11/01/07 01:35 PM)
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pokermush
Waterboardingmyself toprotect America!
Registered: 09/17/06
Posts: 475
Loc: Utah
Last seen: 7 months, 10 days
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Re: Biochemical Research Into Opium Poppy And Cannabis Goes Underground [Re: kidaihuan]
#7584235 - 11/01/07 02:18 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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How about some underground biologists isolate the cannabinoid-producing genes, then splice them into, for example, tomatoes?
That would make one hell of a spaghetti dinner! 
Plus, that would be the end of MJ prohibition. It would be completely impossible to restrict use of THC if it could be grown in special strains of common vegetables.
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 EntheogenicPeace
Scholar
Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 2,329
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Re: Biochemical Research Into Opium Poppy And Cannabis Goes Underground [Re: pokermush]
#7584376 - 11/01/07 02:59 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Word. I read in the latest edition of Jorge Cervante's Cannabis Bible that it's only a matter of time before the genes that produce cannabinoids are able to be put into other plants. That will be an amazing & triumphant day for all who love & value freedom. The possibilities would be endless. Imagine being able to insert the cocaine production gene so that the leaves of various plants, tree & shrubs contain it.
  
Edit: Sadly, this would probably cause the DEA to increase their budget by 100x so that they can have agents taking samples & testing plants high & low from every part of the U.S. every day of the year.
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"...the role our nation has taken... of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments... we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values... When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered." - Martin Luther King Jr.
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