1
00:00:10,470 --> 00:00:13,306
[narrator] This seedling
might not look like much now,
2
00:00:13,806 --> 00:00:17,894
but it will grow into one of the most
notorious plants in human history:
3
00:00:19,312 --> 00:00:20,354
cannabis.
4
00:00:24,358 --> 00:00:27,403
It's the world's
most popular illicit drug,
5
00:00:27,487 --> 00:00:30,573
more prevalent
than all the other ones combined.
6
00:00:31,365 --> 00:00:34,327
Marijuana today
is a highly manicured product,
7
00:00:34,410 --> 00:00:37,121
glistening with sticky,
psychoactive resin.
8
00:00:37,997 --> 00:00:40,333
This is not your mother's weed.
9
00:00:41,501 --> 00:00:43,503
This was more like your mother's weed.
10
00:00:43,586 --> 00:00:48,883
The top strains
from a 1977 issue of High Times magazine.
11
00:00:48,966 --> 00:00:51,177
Today's is a lot stronger.
12
00:00:51,260 --> 00:00:54,847
Confiscated marijuana
is more than three times as potent
13
00:00:54,931 --> 00:00:56,641
as it was in the mid-'90s
14
00:00:56,724 --> 00:00:59,310
when the US government
started keeping track.
15
00:00:59,393 --> 00:01:02,188
And the same trend
has been observed in other countries,
16
00:01:02,271 --> 00:01:05,316
like the Netherlands,
the United Kingdom, and Italy.
17
00:01:05,399 --> 00:01:08,361
Cannabis also grows smaller and faster,
18
00:01:08,444 --> 00:01:09,779
and in hundreds of strains,
19
00:01:09,862 --> 00:01:13,241
offering all different kinds
of flavors and highs.
20
00:01:13,324 --> 00:01:17,036
But an unregulated product
with rapidly changing genetics means
21
00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,705
that a lot of people don't know
what they're really buying
22
00:01:20,123 --> 00:01:23,876
and that there are health consequences
we're only starting to understand.
23
00:01:24,460 --> 00:01:28,798
For millennia now, marijuana has been seen
as mysterious and sacred
24
00:01:28,881 --> 00:01:30,258
and even demonic.
25
00:01:30,925 --> 00:01:34,303
But now humans
have learned to engineer it.
26
00:01:34,387 --> 00:01:36,973
So what exactly
have humans done to this plant?
27
00:01:37,056 --> 00:01:39,517
And what does that mean
for the people who use it?
28
00:01:40,017 --> 00:01:43,688
[man] Marijuana is an intoxicating,
mind-muddling drug.
29
00:01:44,313 --> 00:01:49,152
Marijuana is probably the most
dangerous drug in the United States.
30
00:01:49,235 --> 00:01:50,528
Come on, one drag won't hurt you.
31
00:01:50,611 --> 00:01:52,155
That's not what I heard.
32
00:01:53,573 --> 00:01:56,450
[man] Oh, the days of the mild drug
that everybody uses...
33
00:01:56,534 --> 00:01:58,244
It's more potent now than ever.
34
00:01:58,327 --> 00:02:00,538
One of these days
they're gonna change the stupid law,
35
00:02:00,621 --> 00:02:03,166
and it'll be just as legal
to have grass in your pocket
36
00:02:03,249 --> 00:02:05,376
as it is to have beer in the refrigerator.
37
00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:19,724
[narrator] This is 2,700-year-old
psychoactive resin from a cannabis plant.
38
00:02:20,725 --> 00:02:23,436
It was found in a grave in Central Asia,
39
00:02:23,519 --> 00:02:26,898
and it's the oldest evidence
of cannabis being used as a drug.
40
00:02:26,981 --> 00:02:28,858
Cannabis is a domesticated species.
41
00:02:28,941 --> 00:02:33,112
It's one of the species that we've been
co-evolving with for a very long time.
42
00:02:33,196 --> 00:02:35,781
And to say you co-evolve
is to say you're changing it
43
00:02:35,865 --> 00:02:37,867
and presumably it's changing you as well.
44
00:02:38,451 --> 00:02:42,413
[narrator] As humans spread
across the continents, so did cannabis.
45
00:02:42,496 --> 00:02:46,626
But in colder climates, a different
version of the plant developed: hemp.
46
00:02:46,709 --> 00:02:49,378
It couldn't get you high,
but it was just as valued
47
00:02:49,462 --> 00:02:51,172
for other reasons.
48
00:02:51,255 --> 00:02:54,425
[man] Long ago when these
ancient Grecian temples were new,
49
00:02:54,508 --> 00:02:57,470
hemp was already old
in the service of mankind.
50
00:02:57,553 --> 00:02:59,847
[narrator] Hemp was used
to make clothes, rope,
51
00:02:59,931 --> 00:03:03,643
sails, paper, food, fuel,
and construction materials.
52
00:03:04,101 --> 00:03:06,479
Hemp farming was
so important in early America
53
00:03:06,562 --> 00:03:09,732
that towns across the country
named themselves after it.
54
00:03:10,233 --> 00:03:13,152
This was the cannabis
most Europeans and North Americans knew.
55
00:03:13,236 --> 00:03:17,406
But warmer climates, they got
the psychoactive kind of cannabis.
56
00:03:17,865 --> 00:03:19,325
It spread to the Middle East,
57
00:03:19,408 --> 00:03:22,078
where hashish,
a paste made of cannabis resin,
58
00:03:22,161 --> 00:03:24,664
became a popular edible intoxicant.
59
00:03:24,747 --> 00:03:27,917
From there, it spread to India,
where it became a holy drink.
60
00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,836
Then into Africa,
where it was used as medicine
61
00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:33,047
and to boost courage before battle.
62
00:03:33,130 --> 00:03:36,968
And then transatlantic slave traders
carried it to the Americas.
63
00:03:37,051 --> 00:03:39,428
And what had been as the same plant,
64
00:03:39,512 --> 00:03:43,224
one path selected
for length and strength of fibers,
65
00:03:43,307 --> 00:03:46,519
and the other paths
selected for psychoactive potency.
66
00:03:47,019 --> 00:03:49,981
[narrator] In 1753, Carl Linnaeus,
67
00:03:50,064 --> 00:03:54,318
a Swedish botanist who created the modern
system of classifying organisms,
68
00:03:54,402 --> 00:03:56,529
named the plant cannabis sativa.
69
00:03:57,196 --> 00:04:00,157
These plants grew tall
and had thin leaflets.
70
00:04:00,616 --> 00:04:04,704
Later on, a variety of the plant found
in the cool mountain climates of India
71
00:04:04,787 --> 00:04:08,165
with darker, thicker leaves
was labeled cannabis indica.
72
00:04:08,708 --> 00:04:12,044
And then there's this little guy,
cannabis ruderalis,
73
00:04:12,128 --> 00:04:13,838
small plants found in Russia.
74
00:04:15,089 --> 00:04:18,467
Linnaeus noticed
something unusual about cannabis.
75
00:04:18,551 --> 00:04:22,054
While most plants have flowers
with both male and female parts,
76
00:04:22,138 --> 00:04:27,893
with cannabis, some plants only produced
seeds and others only produced pollen.
77
00:04:27,977 --> 00:04:31,022
In other words, they were male and female.
78
00:04:31,105 --> 00:04:34,483
Linnaeus isolated some
of the female plants on his windowsill
79
00:04:34,567 --> 00:04:36,944
and got pretty excited
about what happened next.
80
00:04:39,196 --> 00:04:43,284
[Chong] "It was certainly a beautiful
and truly admirable spectacle
81
00:04:43,367 --> 00:04:46,454
to see the unimpregnated female
flourishing,
82
00:04:46,829 --> 00:04:49,415
till they had been
for a very considerable time
83
00:04:49,498 --> 00:04:51,125
exploded in vain
84
00:04:51,625 --> 00:04:53,711
to access the male pollen."
85
00:04:54,837 --> 00:04:57,214
Wow, he's really into this weed, isn't he?
86
00:04:58,507 --> 00:05:02,386
[narrator] Because female cannabis plants
produce bigger psychoactive flowers,
87
00:05:02,470 --> 00:05:04,764
they're much better for getting you high.
88
00:05:04,847 --> 00:05:07,892
Flower has the most resin in it,
the most of the oil.
89
00:05:07,975 --> 00:05:12,396
[narrator] The leaves and stems contain
some psychoactives, but not that much.
90
00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:18,194
The main psychoactive chemical
is called THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol.
91
00:05:18,277 --> 00:05:22,573
The second major active chemical
is cannabidiol, or CBD,
92
00:05:22,656 --> 00:05:24,283
which reduces anxiety.
93
00:05:24,367 --> 00:05:28,454
But cannabis has more than 100 compounds
that affect the human body,
94
00:05:28,537 --> 00:05:29,955
called cannabinoids.
95
00:05:30,039 --> 00:05:32,583
A few decades ago, researchers discovered
96
00:05:32,666 --> 00:05:35,878
that we produce
a lot of these same chemicals naturally
97
00:05:35,961 --> 00:05:39,048
and have receptors for them
sprinkled all around our bodies.
98
00:05:39,548 --> 00:05:42,760
It's involved with food regulation.
99
00:05:42,843 --> 00:05:45,346
It's involved in cognition.
100
00:05:45,721 --> 00:05:48,933
It's involved with fine motor movement.
101
00:05:49,016 --> 00:05:50,184
It's everywhere.
102
00:05:50,601 --> 00:05:53,729
[narrator] Endocannabinoid systems
are present in every animal
103
00:05:53,813 --> 00:05:54,980
except for insects.
104
00:05:55,064 --> 00:05:57,691
We still don't fully understand
why they're there,
105
00:05:57,775 --> 00:06:00,945
but there's evidence that they play
a key evolutionary role
106
00:06:01,028 --> 00:06:05,032
in regulating appetite,
helping us forget, and reducing stress.
107
00:06:05,116 --> 00:06:09,662
And they might be the chemicals behind
the euphoria you feel after exercise.
108
00:06:10,079 --> 00:06:12,873
But cannabis isn't just cannabinoids.
109
00:06:12,957 --> 00:06:15,584
There are over 400 active compounds
110
00:06:15,668 --> 00:06:18,754
that give each plant
a unique chemical profile.
111
00:06:20,381 --> 00:06:22,925
Oh, hello, Pineapple OGs.
112
00:06:25,386 --> 00:06:27,346
Think of it
like a graphic equalizer on a stereo.
113
00:06:27,430 --> 00:06:30,808
Imagine a graphic equalizer
with over 400 dials on them. THC, cannabidiol, CBG, CBN.
114
00:06:34,812 --> 00:06:36,939
A lot of these things are psychoactive.
115
00:06:37,273 --> 00:06:39,483
A lot of these cannabinoids
are non-psychoactive.
116
00:06:39,984 --> 00:06:42,653
Terpenes are basically
aroma molecules.
117
00:06:42,736 --> 00:06:45,239
Flavonoids are flavor molecules.
118
00:06:45,781 --> 00:06:48,701
And all of these things are mediated...
119
00:06:49,285 --> 00:06:51,745
by the cannabinoid profile,
is what we call it.
120
00:06:53,330 --> 00:06:56,459
[narrator] The popular strain Sour Diesel
gets its peppery note
121
00:06:56,542 --> 00:06:58,294
from the chemical caryophyllene,
122
00:06:58,377 --> 00:07:02,506
which is also found in black pepper,
cloves, and cinnamon.
123
00:07:02,590 --> 00:07:05,468
While Super Lemon Haze contains limonene, a major component
of the peels of citrus fruit.
124
00:07:09,013 --> 00:07:11,474
By selecting
the right combination of cannabinoids
125
00:07:11,557 --> 00:07:13,434
over several plant generations,
126
00:07:13,517 --> 00:07:16,520
growers can create
an iconic name brand product,
127
00:07:16,604 --> 00:07:19,648
like the famous strain
in the movie Pineapple Express.
128
00:07:19,732 --> 00:07:24,737
This is like if that Blue Oyster shit
met that Afghan Kush I had
129
00:07:24,820 --> 00:07:26,155
and they had a baby,
130
00:07:26,238 --> 00:07:29,158
and then meanwhile,
that crazy Northern Lights stuff I had
131
00:07:29,241 --> 00:07:33,120
and the Super Red Espresso Snowflake
met and had a baby,
132
00:07:33,204 --> 00:07:36,540
and by some miracle,
those two babies met and fucked...
133
00:07:36,624 --> 00:07:38,250
"...this would be the shit
134
00:07:38,334 --> 00:07:39,919
they birthed."
[chuckles]
135
00:07:40,628 --> 00:07:43,631
Now that may not sound super scientific,
136
00:07:43,714 --> 00:07:46,008
but that's basically how it works.
137
00:07:46,091 --> 00:07:47,801
[narrator] Today, Pineapple Express
138
00:07:47,885 --> 00:07:52,306
is one of hundreds and hundreds
of unique marijuana strains on the market, some with advertised THC potencies
upward of 25%.
139
00:07:57,603 --> 00:08:00,981
That dramatic evolutionary change
happened because of one thing:
140
00:08:01,524 --> 00:08:04,360
the American war on drugs.
141
00:08:06,946 --> 00:08:10,699
[Nixon] Marijuana is a weed and spreads
like crabgrass once it goes to seed.
142
00:08:10,783 --> 00:08:13,077
In order to fight and defeat this enemy,
143
00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:17,623
it is necessary to wage
a new all-out offensive.
144
00:08:17,706 --> 00:08:20,125
[man] But we need to concentrate
on the organizations,
145
00:08:20,209 --> 00:08:23,379
we need to concentrate on who's
financing them, who's setting them up,
146
00:08:23,462 --> 00:08:25,881
-and we need to cut the heads off there.
-[police radio chat]
147
00:08:25,965 --> 00:08:28,133
[narrator] For the majority
of the 20th century,
148
00:08:28,217 --> 00:08:31,887
most of the marijuana consumed in the US
came from Mexico.
149
00:08:31,971 --> 00:08:34,181
It was terrible stuff.
150
00:08:34,473 --> 00:08:36,725
Marijuana was the...
151
00:08:37,184 --> 00:08:39,353
mostly the leaves...
152
00:08:39,436 --> 00:08:43,607
occasionally the flowers if the dealer
was feeling in a good mood.
153
00:08:43,691 --> 00:08:47,236
Frequently the stems or the seeds
if the dealer was feeling in a bad mood.
154
00:08:47,319 --> 00:08:49,321
And of course
that was garbage that you paid for.
155
00:08:49,738 --> 00:08:52,658
[narrator] Today's growers
mostly sell flowers, or bud.
156
00:08:52,741 --> 00:08:57,913
But the Mexican growers sold the whole
plant: leaves, seeds, stems, and all.
157
00:08:57,997 --> 00:09:03,544
And the result was a product that probably
averaged about 3% THC content by weight.
158
00:09:03,627 --> 00:09:06,505
[narrator] To cut off the flow of cannabis
across the border,
159
00:09:06,589 --> 00:09:08,507
the US started paying Mexico
160
00:09:08,591 --> 00:09:12,803
to spray their marijuana fields
with herbicide in 1975,
161
00:09:12,886 --> 00:09:16,599
so Americans started making
a lot more of it themselves.
162
00:09:16,682 --> 00:09:21,186
But marijuana could only grow
in the sunny US states like California,
163
00:09:21,270 --> 00:09:24,565
because the only marijuana we had
was cannabis sativa.
164
00:09:24,648 --> 00:09:27,359
That changed in the late 1970s,
165
00:09:27,443 --> 00:09:31,238
when Americans brought back
the shorter cold-resistant cannabis indica
166
00:09:31,322 --> 00:09:33,324
from the Hindu Kush mountains.
167
00:09:33,407 --> 00:09:35,367
And we came up with hybrids.
168
00:09:35,451 --> 00:09:37,953
[narrator] Crossbreeding
frost-resistant indica
169
00:09:38,037 --> 00:09:39,830
with existing sativa plants
170
00:09:39,913 --> 00:09:43,792
allowed cannabis to grow
in every single state in America.
171
00:09:43,876 --> 00:09:47,379
And when the Reagan Administration
started using spy planes
172
00:09:47,463 --> 00:09:49,882
to search
for marijuana farms from the air,
173
00:09:49,965 --> 00:09:54,261
indica's smaller size allowed growers
to hide their plants indoors.
174
00:09:54,345 --> 00:09:56,680
And remember cannabis ruderalis?
175
00:09:56,764 --> 00:10:00,100
Crossbreeding with it allowed
for shorter flowering times,
176
00:10:00,184 --> 00:10:02,353
so plants could sprout faster.
177
00:10:02,436 --> 00:10:05,147
And these hybrids
were now able to be grown indoors.
178
00:10:05,230 --> 00:10:07,107
And they didn't take 12 weeks to grow,
179
00:10:07,191 --> 00:10:09,860
and they didn't grow
eight and ten and 12 feet tall.
180
00:10:09,943 --> 00:10:12,029
[narrator] But the biggest transformation
to the plant
181
00:10:12,112 --> 00:10:15,449
was the rediscovery
of an ancient breeding method
182
00:10:15,532 --> 00:10:20,621
based on the same phenomenon Carl Linnaeus
had observed on his windowsill.
183
00:10:21,413 --> 00:10:26,460
It turns out that process
makes flowers ooze psychoactive resin.
184
00:10:27,044 --> 00:10:30,255
One day somebody said to me,
"Hey, there's this new kind of weed.
185
00:10:30,339 --> 00:10:31,465
It's called Sinse."
186
00:10:32,049 --> 00:10:35,886
Sinsemilla.
It's basically Spanish for "seedless."
187
00:10:35,969 --> 00:10:37,888
[narrator] When female plants
are pollinated,
188
00:10:37,971 --> 00:10:41,809
their THC production slows
to produce seeds.
189
00:10:41,892 --> 00:10:44,770
But if you keep female plants
away from male plants,
190
00:10:44,853 --> 00:10:47,356
they never get pollinated,
never produce seeds,
191
00:10:47,439 --> 00:10:50,442
and their THC production never slows down.
192
00:10:50,984 --> 00:10:52,277
Basically, a process of producing
193
00:10:52,361 --> 00:10:55,239
a bunch of sexually frustrated
female marijuana plants.
194
00:10:55,906 --> 00:10:58,033
[narrator] And by clipping
from those females,
195
00:10:58,117 --> 00:11:02,329
growers could clone a new generation
of genetically identical plants,
196
00:11:02,413 --> 00:11:04,790
skipping
the pollination process altogether.
197
00:11:05,374 --> 00:11:08,335
Unfortunately, these plants
are never going to get to have sex.
198
00:11:08,419 --> 00:11:11,672
So they're just going to keep creating
more and more resin,
199
00:11:11,755 --> 00:11:14,967
trying to attract that pollen
so that they can make seeds.
200
00:11:15,050 --> 00:11:17,511
And if you think about it,
the modern cannabis plant
201
00:11:17,594 --> 00:11:21,432
that's been bred to be all flowers
is really kind of a botanical freak.
202
00:11:22,099 --> 00:11:23,767
And the flowers are huge,
203
00:11:23,851 --> 00:11:26,687
totally out of proportion
to the plant itself.
204
00:11:26,770 --> 00:11:28,439
It's kind of grotesque actually.
205
00:11:28,522 --> 00:11:31,400
[narrator] The average THC content
of Sinsemilla
206
00:11:31,483 --> 00:11:34,445
was several times higher
than normal cannabis.
207
00:11:34,528 --> 00:11:39,742
But the THC content for both hasn't
changed much over the last couple decades.
208
00:11:40,409 --> 00:11:43,579
Weed, on average,
has gotten so much more potent
209
00:11:44,079 --> 00:11:47,916
because Americans started buying
a lot more of the stronger version.
210
00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:50,210
But that resulted in another change.
211
00:11:50,294 --> 00:11:55,758
THC, the psychoactive compound,
and CBD, the relaxing one, are connected.
212
00:11:56,133 --> 00:11:59,762
The more THC there is in a plant,
the less CBD.
213
00:11:59,845 --> 00:12:01,430
Even back in the 1990s,
214
00:12:01,513 --> 00:12:05,976
the ratio of THC to CBD in the plant
was about 11 to one.
215
00:12:06,059 --> 00:12:09,062
Today, you know, 30 years later nearly,
216
00:12:09,146 --> 00:12:13,776
we have THC to CBD ratios
on the order of 250 to one.
217
00:12:14,276 --> 00:12:17,696
And so you get stuff with more and more
THC and less and less CBD.
218
00:12:17,780 --> 00:12:21,241
There's gonna be a higher rate
of people getting freaked out.
219
00:12:21,325 --> 00:12:23,035
And that appears to be true.
220
00:12:23,118 --> 00:12:28,123
They run the risk
of having increased anxiety, paranoia,
221
00:12:28,207 --> 00:12:30,959
maybe thinking
that they're losing their mind.
222
00:12:31,043 --> 00:12:33,962
Those are the major sort of concerns
that I worry about
223
00:12:34,046 --> 00:12:39,927
when people with lack of tolerance
use high THC-containing products.
224
00:12:40,010 --> 00:12:42,304
[narrator] Legal pot shops
will usually label
225
00:12:42,387 --> 00:12:45,641
the THC and CBD levels
of different strains,
226
00:12:45,724 --> 00:12:48,101
along with a couple other key descriptors.
227
00:12:48,185 --> 00:12:49,728
There's just one problem:
228
00:12:49,812 --> 00:12:54,024
the words we use to classify this plant
don't actually mean anything.
229
00:12:54,525 --> 00:12:55,943
If you shop for marijuana,
230
00:12:56,026 --> 00:12:58,153
chances are you're familiar
with these names.
231
00:12:58,237 --> 00:12:59,446
Indica or sativa?
232
00:12:59,530 --> 00:13:00,447
Indica and sativa.
233
00:13:00,531 --> 00:13:02,282
Indica versus sativa.
234
00:13:02,366 --> 00:13:03,325
[inhales]
235
00:13:04,660 --> 00:13:06,537
Indica and sativa.
236
00:13:06,620 --> 00:13:09,456
And I just basically call it
"daytime pot" and "nighttime pot."
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[narrator] The sativa-indica binary
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has been the basis
for how most marijuana is sold.
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Sativas provide an energetic high feeling,
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while indicas give
a lethargic stoned feeling.
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But much of what we think of these things
are just myths.
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[narrator]
Because of extensive crossbreeding,
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how a plant today looks
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doesn't necessarily have anything to do
with how it makes you feel.
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It used to be very easy
to visually identify.
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And it was
that broad-leafed varieties were indica
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and thin-leafed varieties were sativa.
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And now, because they've been
so intercrossed and interbred so much,
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you can have a broad-leafed variety
that is straight-up sativa in its effects.
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[narrator] And we can't do a genetic test
for indica or sativa
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because there's no genetic sample
of pure indica or sativa.
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And we're not sure that there ever was.
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When you have people labeling something
70% sativa, 70% indica,
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it's 100% subjective.
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It's done by somebody smoking it
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and deciding that they are getting either
an indica or a sativa effect from it.
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Indica dominant to indica-sativa hybrid
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sounds really technical and scientific
even though it's complete nonsense.
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So people say it.
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I think we're going to look back
at this period
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and laugh at those hipsters
in the legal stores
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selling us sativa and indica
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and telling us what it does
and all this hokey shit.
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I think we're going to laugh at that.
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[narrator] Even if the sativa-indica
labels are meaningless,
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you would assume at least the strain names
mean something.
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When you purchase wine by name,
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you expect
a genetically consistent product.
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A Merlot can't be sold as a Cabernet.
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That's because governments regulate them,
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but that's not true with cannabis strains.
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People have absolutely no idea
what they're smoking.
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The strain names are not reliable.
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You can call anything you want
Purple Urkle.
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[narrator] Improving that labeling
is especially important,
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because we don't know what
a standard unit of marijuana looks like.
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We do not have
the cannabis equivalent of a drink,
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and we really need to get there
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so that people
can start thinking seriously about,
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"Well, you know, how stoned
do I want to get?
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Do I want to get one puff or two puffs
or three puffs worth stoned?"
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But that doesn't make any sense
until we've standardized the puff.
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[narrator] But standardizing a puff
requires one big first step:
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legal regulated marijuana.
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Countries all over the world
are starting to loosen laws on cannabis.
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And that can mean more accurate labeling.
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In the Netherlands, where
medical marijuana production is legal,
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a company called Bedrocan
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closely tests the cannabinoid profile
of their products to ensure consistency.
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They've done away
with the hippie strain names
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in favor of more official titles,
like Betica and Bedrobinal.
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When researchers tested them,
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their chemical profiles
were extremely consistent.
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But White Widow and Amnesia samples
bought from different Amsterdam stores
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were all over the place.
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If the legal weed market grows,
we might see more of that consistency.
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Bedrocan's parent company, Canopy Growth,
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got a widely publicized investment
and a historic one.
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The investor was
the alcohol giant Constellation Brands.
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You may not have heard of them,
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but you've probably heard
of some of their products.
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[glass clinks]
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That raises the question:
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What does the Corona of weed look like?
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That depends on the market.
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It's estimated
that in Colorado's legal pot market,
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near daily or daily users
make up the biggest share of demand,
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almost 67%.
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And the percentage of users
who consume that heavily
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keeps going up in the US.
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They're gonna be driven by profits.
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If most of their goods are sold
to regular and heavy users,
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that's who they're gonna market
their products to,
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00:17:00,270 --> 00:17:02,147
and they're going
to be working aggressively
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at developing new regular and heavy users.
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But as long as somebody has a bottom line
that's driven by drug abuse,
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they're gonna promote drug abuse.
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It's not rocket science.
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[narrator] Because those heavy users
have a greater tolerance
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and are constantly pursuing a better high,
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they also drive the average demand
toward high-potency products.
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Everybody I know my age
who still smokes complains.
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You know, why can't you get
the mellow stuff anymore?
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And the answer is the people
who want the mellow stuff...
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don't buy enough to matter.
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[narrator] Legal stores now sell edibles,
vapor pens, and extracts,
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some with concentrations of THC
close to 100%.
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00:17:42,729 --> 00:17:47,943
But you can now also buy those kinds of
products with only CBD and no THC at all,
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which claim to reduce anxiety
without getting you high.
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Understanding
how these diverse new products
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affect the human body is important,
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because marijuana isn't totally harmless.
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Studies show it can raise the risk
of schizophrenia and psychosis.
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00:18:05,043 --> 00:18:08,672
And there's still a lot we don't know
about its long-term health impacts.
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But every day also seems to bring
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00:18:11,758 --> 00:18:15,095
new stories about marijuana's
possibilities as a medicine.
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[man] Another study found that people
with chronic pain reported
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00:18:17,931 --> 00:18:20,183
they reduce the amount
of opioids they use. [woman] Its effectiveness
in treating glaucoma
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00:18:22,602 --> 00:18:26,314
and alleviating the side effects
of chemotherapy is unrivaled.
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Many patients insist pot helped
where other medications failed.
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[man] This week's study of 120 children
with a rare form of epilepsy
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found those who are given CBD
along with their standard medications
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00:18:37,993 --> 00:18:41,746
had a nearly 40% reduction
in the frequency of seizures.
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[narrator] In the years to come,
engineering this plant
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will help us tailor
those possible treatments
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00:18:47,085 --> 00:18:49,838
and it will open up
a whole new field of medicine.
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00:18:50,338 --> 00:18:53,175
We've changed plants dramatically before.
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Corn, peaches, and watermelon
were once inedible, tiny fruits.
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Over thousands of years,
we bred them to fit our desires.
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With cannabis, underground growers
made a similar transformation happen
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in just a few decades.
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00:19:07,731 --> 00:19:12,736
And modern agricultural engineering
is about to transform it again.
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In the long natural history of cannabis,
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which has been going on
for thousands of years
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and has had
these very important peak moments,