Opinion: The cannabis boom could be good for science — and scientists
For scientists propelled by the thrill of discovery, cannabis — a commonplace yet spectacularly complex plant — offers the chance to set a new course in human understanding and health.
I’ve been a chemistry professor for 15 years and a chemist for longer than that. Through most of that time, I paid little heed to cannabis, thinking that this plant held one main chemical of interest: tetrahydrocannabinol, its psychoactive ingredient.
I now know that cannabis contains a galaxy of unexplored compounds — cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, polyphenols, and more — that may well transform our understanding of plant medicine and human biology. I find this new territory inspiring.
This discovery came about after a colleague put me in touch with a cannabis genomics company that was engaged in the
