Seven Businesses Apply for Washington’s New Marijuana Research License

Seven businesses have filed their initial paperwork for acquiring one of Washington’s Marijuana Research Licenses, according to Washington’s Department of Revenue. The research license, which has faced years of bureaucratic delays in Olympia, will give researchers in Washington a legal way to handle and study the cannabis plant.

The seven businesses include Verda Bio Research from Seattle, Flower Curator LLC from Walla Walla, 5150Cannabis from Arlington and Devoted Pro, which lists a Los Angeles, California mailing address. The registration on the Department of Revenue indicates that these businesses have applied for a research license but does not necessarily mean they have had their license approved.

The applicants must also have their research plans reviewed by a scientific reviewer contracted by the state’s Liquor and Cannabis board before any research can commence.

Research on cannabis has been stunted by years of federal prohibition, resulting in an ironic system where one of the most widely used drugs in America is also one of the least well understand. The Drug Enforcement Agency classifies pot as a Schedule I drug, the most dangerous and restricted classification, which has made it incredibly difficult to conduct clinical studies on the plant while complying with federal law. Any scientists hoping to study the cannabis must go through years of red tape and be deputized by the federal government before they can physically handle any pot. And any cannabis used for federally-approved studies must come from one farm in Mississippi that has been noted for producing moldy and weak cannabis that is ineffective for research purposes.

Pot research is even more ironic in Washington state, where there are over a thousand licensed pot producers and anyone older than 21 can purchase pot seven days a week, but the state government has yet to give permission to any researchers to actually study the plant. State law requires all producers either sell or destroy any of their product and scientists hoping to study the plant have no way of legally acquiring and handling the plant under the state’s original pot legalization laws.

The state legislature attempted to rectify this last year by creating a new classification of pot license specifically for the study of the pot plant. But the Liquor and Cannabis Board has been slow to roll out the license, citing difficulty in finding a scientific body to review applicants. The state found a scientific reviewer to evaluate the applications, a business named Science Solutions, where these seven applications are most likely currently sitting. A representative from Science Solutions declined to comment about any application status and directed me to the LCB. I have a call and an e-mail in with the LCB but have yet to hear back.

Jessica Tonani, the CEO of Verda Bio Research, told me earlier this year that Washington state is a natural fit for furthering cannabis research because of the state’s legal cannabis market and the existing biotech industry. And with plenty of basic science to be done on the plant — from ways to better manage crops to processing techniques to better understand plant genetics — a significant amount of intellectual property could be developed in Washington’s economy.

Oregon already has a Marijuana Research Certificate and Colorado plans to roll out their research license next year. Tonani said that the intellectual property on cannabis might be one way to keep profits from cannabis inside Washington’s economy when other states launch their own legal markets.

“I think we still have a small window of competitive advantage, but I think that’s drastically closing for us,” said Tonani of Verda Bio. “So long term, I think the value to the state is in any sort of research or intellectual property they can get. I think that will show greater return than this short-term gold rush.”

A nationwide market for pot would probably mean less cannabis is grown and processed in Washington state. But if California’s pot farmers are using technology licensed from Washington’s scientists the state’s economy would keep benefitting.

Perhaps one of these seven businesses will discover the next great discovery in the science of pot.