Biohackers Are Engineering Yeast To Make THC 159
meghan elizabeth writes How do you get weed without the weed? By genetically engineering yeast to produce THC, of course. Once theorized in a stoner magazine column more than a decade ago, a biotech startup working in Ireland is actively trying to transplant the genetic information that codes for both THC and another cannabinoid called CBD into yeast so that "marijuana" can be grown in a lab—no plants necessary.
"Biohackers" (Score:5, Insightful)
In my lab, we call them scientists (or chemist, biologist, etc).
Re:Holy grey area! (Score:4, Insightful)
If it's legal it won't be for long. Two points:
1) Most likely the yeast bodies will have trace amounts of THC.
2) Look at what happened with Psilocybin, the spores of the mushrooms contain no Psilocybin however the mushrooms do. You used to be able to order the spores legally because there were no psychoactive chemicals however they are now also on the DEA schedule.
So .. no.
Re:Need fast-acting yeast (Score:5, Insightful)
They better act fast if they want to skirt the law with yeast, while there's still a law to break.
It's still a good idea if you want pure chemicals - yeast can produce chemicals faster (to both grow and purify) than plants. Companies like the one Gov. Johnson [benswann.com] is heading up would probably be very interested as a supply source for their refined products.
The trick is medicinal cannabis has something like 250 active compounds. A few years ago everybody assumed that it was only THC that did anything (marinol, for instance). Now they know that CBD is the most active medicinally and Johnson is now talking about CBG as well. There's still more unknown about the others than there is known, so focusing on just a couple pure chemicals might miss out on benefits. Human bodies do a lot of signalling with various cannabinoids and here's this one plant that happens to also grow most of them. It should be a biotech bonanza, except for the crapitalistic reasons politicians try to keep it off the market.
But, um, yeah, get high on THC beer if you want. It would actually probably be a net-benefit for society since people will be satisfied with being less drunk. As a user of the road monopoly, I'd strongly support THC beer on the market.