West Virginia Growing State’s First Cannabis Plant

Marijuana seeds are going to be planted this week to get ready for West Virginia’s first legal marijuana plant, which is thanks to a hemp research project at West Virginia University. Two years ago, when the federal government passed a law allowing for hemp to be grown for research purposes, state legislatures approved a bill that also legalized industrial hemp. Prior to that, people who wanted to grow industrial hemp needed to receive approval from the Department of Justice and the DEA. At the moment, prospective hemp cultivators in West Virginia need to apply for a license from the Department of Agriculture.

“There are certain hurdles [to research],” Susanna Wheeler, a student at West Virginia University, said. “The way it is regulated is still very different from any sort of agronomic crop that we would try to do research on.”

Even so, the new law has made it legal for the university to begin experimentation on hemp. According to West Virginia state law, hemp is defined as a cannabis plant with less than one percent THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

“We will be planting here [this week], weather permitting,” Wheeler added.

Wheeler indicated that their experimentation would be made up of two halves. During the first step, the team will evaluate five different industrial hemp crops in order to see which ones are most apt for the conditions in West Virginia. The second step is a greenhouse experiment in which scientists will evaluate the same crops and how they react to the inner conditions. More specifically, they will be looking into soil purification.

Soil purification is one of the many uses of hemp. The parts of the plant have been used to make materials for houses, cars, and even fuels. However, because of the federal government’s laws, any use of hemp must come from out of the country. At least twenty-eight states have some type of hemp laws, whether they are to research or to grow for selling purposes.