New research on cannabis genetics suggests that incentives in the legal marijuana market—such as the desire for plants to mature faster and produce more cannabinoids for extraction—may be leading to a decline in biodiversity of the plant worldwide.
The author of a graduate thesis that was published in this month, Caleb Y. Chen at California State Polytechnic University Humboldt (Cal Poly), combined observations of genetic trends and interviews with dozens plant breeders, to explain what he calls “the bottlenecking” of cannabis. Cannabis genetics.”
Review notes that humans have selectively bred the cannabis plant over thousands of years. Breeders today, in the “post prohibition” period, have focused on a few traits such as maximum cannabinoid concentration, “desirable” aromatic terpenes, and reproducible chemical profiles.
This hasn’t always been aligned to connoisseur tastes, but the economics and regulations have made sense. Citing interviews with growers in a 2021 paper, Chen writes that “their preference for High THC content in cultivars ‘was due to state testing regulations and a misinformed consumer base, rather than grower partialities.'”
The paper admits that so-called “genetic bottlenecking” is not unique to cannabis but occurs in many agricultural crops. Research indicates, however, that the wild cannabis strains are a thing from the past.
“Recent genetics studies of Cannabis Wild specimens of Cannabis have gone extinct and existing ‘wild’ cannabis The paper states that “wild plants have been eliminated from gene pools due to wind pollination, among other things.”
Wind pollination also threatens to “wipe out landrace populations with ‘contamination’ from pollen via modern hybrids, therefore further bottlenecking Cannabis “Genetic diversity at a global level,” found the study. “This has been reported from Morocco but also in Jamaica, Mexico, Thailand…and even parts of India.”
“Genetic bottlenecking, even without human aspects of Prohibition added, is more than any other crop a present and real problem. Cannabis“, it says.
Chen writes “in 2025,” “just a small handful” of people are expected to be in the workforce. Cannabis All levels of Post-Prohibition have grown cultivars. The majority of products come from a few Cannabis cultivars, which are now considered by the vast majority of the market to be agricultural commodities that can work well together.
“Craft CannabisThe thesis goes on to say that “aside from being a term used in marketing, is also a new counterculture amongst the industry.
“These results may be meaningful in highlighting the role of government action on declining genetic diversity in the worldwide Cannabis market—and its impacts on the medicinal potential and therapeutic index of available Cannabis products.”
It notes that the modern bottlenecking of cannabis genetics is “little investigated” and calls future cannabis genetics “open question”.
According to interviews conducted with marijuana growers, some believe that the popular cannabis metrics don’t capture what is responsible for a high.
Chen writes, “For example, Dr. Grinspoon was a special cultivar that many breeders believed to be unique and had not been properly studied because of its flowering duration up to 24 week.”
“It’s a perfect example of a plant that like…there’s something else in there that we’re not testing for,” one grower said. “And there has to be…because it’s just so incredibly different and pungent in that different way that there must be something in there that is not being described in the lab results at this point.”
Despite the recent upswing of marijuana research, scientists are still discovering new things about the plant. Researchers earlier this year, for example, announced that they successfully identified a new cannabinoid—cannabielsoxa—produced by the marijuana plant as well as a number of other compounds “reported for the first time from the flowers of C. Sativa.”
Other research in 2023, published by the American Chemical Society, identified “previously undiscovered cannabis compounds” that challenged conventional wisdom of what really gives cannabis varieties their unique olfactory profiles.
In the new paper, it is noted that, unlike “ideotype breeders who focus on laboratory-measured physical traits,” many growers also consume their cannabis to determine what they think will be best. The evaluation process is perhaps unique in the cannabis industry. Cannabis “The breeding process cannot be automated or mechanized,” the report states.
Other factors, like the rise of commercial marketing of cannabis strains, further complicate efforts to correctly identify genetics by creating “an incentive…for cultivators to misrepresent the linguistic labels used to describe their Cannabis genetics especially at the stage after it has been cultivated and as now being sold,” the thesis says.
Chen states, “In the course of my analysis, I have found that the Post Prohibition landscape has created a connection between alcohol and other drugs.” Cannabis Regulating the Fall Cannabis Prices are falling Cannabis The genetics of diversity. The risk premium will drop as the Post-Prohibition environment develops. Cannabis‘s market value. If everything else was equal, then this would be the winner. Cannabis cultivators to prefer plants which yield more – which provide more saleable output.”
The 142-page master’s thesis concludes with some thoughts about the future of cannabis genetics, including how policymakers might adopt regulations “that understand the need of Cannabis Consider the impact of regulatory changes on breeding. Cannabis Genetic diversity
Researchers are also urged to consider the implications of their findings. Cannabis Breeder perspectives on beneficial changes Cannabis regulations.”
As for other recent cannabis research, scientists reported last month that they’ve identified 33 “significant markers” in the cannabis genome that “significantly influence cannabinoid production”—a finding they say promises to drive the development of new plant varieties with specific cannabinoid profiles.
In the article, it says that “the results offer valuable guidance to Cannabis Breeding programs that use precise genetic markers for selection and refinement of promising Cannabis varieties.”
The study found a “massive set” of genes, 60 megabases in total (Mb), on a single plant chromosome. These genes were specifically associated with THC-dominant strains.
Authors—from Université Laval in Québec, Canada—said the research represented a shift away from years of cannabis prohibition that “have impeded the establishment of genetic resource collections and the development of advanced breeding practices, thus limiting both the genetic improvement and the understanding of Cannabis traits.”
The research on marijuana is exploding in the last few years due to the fact that more and more states have made it legal for both medical and adult purposes. However, the Trump administration has not yet revealed how its priorities will influence this trend.
For example, under the new administration, “marijuana” is also now one of nearly two dozen “controversial or high-profile topics” that staff and researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) are required to clear with higher-ups before writing about.
The leaked memo of a government agency included marijuana and opioids along with other topics such as vaccines and COVID-19. It also listed fluoride and the measles virus, autism and abortion.
NCI belongs to the National Institutes of Health. NIH is in turn a division of Health and Human Services.
In the memo, NCI employees are instructed to submit any materials they intend to publish that address the topics specified to a clearance team.
Staff were advised: “Depending on information’s nature, an additional review by NCI directors, deputy director, NIH or HHS, may be necessary.” In some cases the materials will only need to be reviewed once, however the NCI Clearance Team may share them with NCI leadership and/or NIH or HHS.
According to a survey, marijuana users exercise more than five times as often.