Marijuana institute in the works at Humboldt State University

Posted on November 28, 2012 By Hope Gillette Education

Marijuana has been in the news a lot recently since its legalization in 18 states and Washington, D.C. While approved at the state level for medical use in those regions, marijuana remains an illegal substance under federal law, and little research has been done by the Food and Drug Administration in an effort to eventually legalize the substance completely. In an attempt to provide better research and education to the public regarding marijuana, Humboldt State University has plans to open the very first marijuana institute—an academic effort made up primarily of University faculty.

marijuana institute

The first of its kind marijuana institute will focus on research rather than advocacy. (Shutterstock photo)

“They finally tapped into something that’s a big local concern and part of the identity here,” said politics professor Jason Plume to the Times-Standard. Plume is one of the professors involved in the marijuana institute, and he offers lectures on the legalization plans being implemented around the country.

The institute, now called the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research, is already hosting a series of lectures, open to the public, on marijuana research. Topics  include how marijuana cultivation affects wildlife, policy changes and the environmental impact of marijuana.

The new marijuana institute will be the first to have a focus solely on marijuana research, something Humboldt State University started considering when marijuana legalization appeared on the California ballot in 2010.

The initiative will have 11 staff members, reports the Associated Press, with research fields including economics, politics, psychology and geography.

“If anyone is going to have a marijuana institute, it really should be Humboldt State,” said Erick Eschker, an HSU economics professor and the institute’s co-chair, to the Times-Standard. “It has the potential to be a world-class institute, and we’re just getting going.”

Eschker adds the new marijuana institute is not about advocacy. The facility will be a place where people and researchers can go to have their marijuana questions answered. Thus far, several researchers have already contacted the new facility, though staff members say they are still working on getting the word out about the institute.

Eventually, the new program would like to host a marijuana conference for both national and international marijuana researchers. Faculty is also working toward opening a new section in the university library that is solely focused on marijuana literature.

“The stigma for marijuana research is pretty much lifted,” said Anthony Silvaggio, a sociology professor also involved in the new facility’s research.

 

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  • kevin_hunt

    Considering it is a $50 to $100 billion annual market, there should be a serious study program available somewhere on the subject. Good for Humboldt State.

  • malcolmkyle

    A regulated and licensed distribution network for all mind altering substances would put responsible adult supervision in between children and premature access to drug distribution outlets (illegal street dealers). Regulated and licensed distribution would reflect and respect society’s values, thus preventing children obtaining easy access to these dangerous substances. What we need is legalized regulation. What we have now, due to prohibition, is a non-regulated black market to which everybody has access and where all the profits go to organized crime and terrorists.

    If you support prohibition then you support bank-rolling criminals and terrorists. There’s simply no other logical way of looking at it.

    It is now the duty of every last one of us to insure that the people who are responsible for this shameful situation are not simply left in peace to enjoy the wealth and status that their despicable actions have, until now, afforded them. Former and present Prohibitionists must not be allowed to remain untainted and untouched from the unconscionable acts that they have viciously committed on their fellow citizens.

  • Hope Gillette

    Thank you for your input. As a widely-distributed product, it is indeed good to have a dedicated research facility, regardless of who chooses to believe the research which comes from it.