I guess that NIDA is finally listening to the scientists that El Sohly at Oxford can't grow decent cannabis!* Top Federal Drug Agency Seeking Marijuana Grower Able To Cultivate And Analyze 4 Million Grams Of Cannabis Top Federal Drug Agency Seeking Marijuana Grower Able To Cultivate And Analyze 4 Million Grams Of Cannabis A top federal drug agency is now officially soliciting proposals for a contractor to grow, harvest and analyze millions of grams of marijuana for research purposes. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) published a request for proposal (RFP) notice last week, stating that it’s seeking manufacturers that are capable of cultivating, testing and rolling joints of about four million grams of cannabis over a five-year period. For more than 50 years, NIDA has relied exclusively on marijuana grown by a single farm at the University of Mississippi for studies that it oversees. But in recent months, several additional cultivators have been licensed. If one of those is awarded a contract under the new RFP, it will finally end the half-century monopoly—though NIDA said it “reserves the right to make a single award, multiple awards, or no award at all to the solicitation.” Applicants must possess a Schedule I research registration from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in order to supply NIDA with the bulk marijuana. The 172-page RFP lays out the extensive requirements for contractors and descriptions of the tasks. “The primary purpose of this contract is to provide materials to support research on marijuana (cannabis) and its constituents,” the RFP says. “Studies require a source of cannabis materials with consistent and predictable potency, free of contamination and in sufficient amounts to support a wide variety of research needs.” “The Contractor shall produce or procure cannabis, cannabis extract and other cannabis-derived materials for basic and clinical research, and conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis, stability determination, and recommended storage conditions for these products for approved research. Cannabis is used in a large variety of research projects and this contract serves as a source of such material in the U.S from the Federal government. The Contractor shall provide sufficient quantities of cannabis to meet anticipated needs as directed by the NIDA Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR).” When NIDA says that it’s looking for a contractor that’s capable of growing “sufficient quantities” of marijuana, it means a lot of marijuana. The proposal says that manufacturers should be able to cultivate about 4,000 kilograms (roughly 8,800 pounds) of cannabis over the five-year contract period, from March 23, 2023 to March 22, 2028. (snipped) * Did you know that every single month since the mid-1970s, our government has mailed out metal tins stuffed with 300 “marijuana cigarettes” to be used for medical purposes by certain US citizens. It's called the "COMPASSIONATE INVESTIGATIONAL NEW DRUG PROGRAM and it was quickly closed to new applicants. If cannabis has no medical uses, why has our government supplied these people with “medical marijuana” since 1976? “Finally, test subjects in their study of NIDA cannabis reported (pp. 66-67), “that the marijuana is inferior in sensory qualities (taste, harshness) than the marijuana that they smoke outside the laboratory. Some have stated that it was the worst marijuana they had ever sampled, or that it tasted ‘chemically treated.’” ……. ”All the study patients criticize the paper employed to roll the cannabis cigarettes as harsh, and tasting poorly. NIDA cannabis cigarettes resemble Pall Mall® brand tobacco cigarettes without the logo.”…. “A close inspection of the contents of NIDA-supplied cannabis cigarettes reveals them to be a crude mixture of leaf with abundant stem and seed components (Figures 5-6). The odor is green and herbal in character. The resultant smoke is thick, acrid, and pervasive.” From Chronic Cannabis Use in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program https://www.cannabis-med.org/jcant/russo_chronic_use.pdf More about government pot, and if you look at the photo, you can see numerous seeds and stems. Government research-grade marijuana is not exactly fire. (news – 2017) https://www.thecannabist.co/2017/03/13/government-research-marijuana-quality/75461/ Granny