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Researches have created a strain of yeast with THC, as well as other parts of marijuana.
In August, researchers announced they had genetically engineered yeast to produce the powerful painkiller hydrocodone. Now comes the perhaps inevitable sequel: Scientists have created yeasts that can make important constituents of marijuana, including the main psychoactive compound, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
Synthetic versions of THC are available in pill form under brand names like Marinol and Cesamet; they are generally used to treat nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite caused by H.I.V. infection or cancer chemotherapy. Genetically modified yeast could make THC in a cheaper and more streamlined way than traditional chemical synthesis.
Using yeast could also shed light on the clinical usefulness of cannabis-derived compounds. Marijuana is increasingly embraced as medicine, yet there is limited evidence that it is effective against many of the conditions for which it is prescribed. Researchers hoping to separate fact from wishful thinking will need much better access to marijuana's unique constituents. Modified yeast may provide them.
Why can't they just legalize cannabis, and none of this would be necessary?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 17 2015, @02:43PM
In school I never met a dope head with any motivation to do anything except smoke more pot.
Do we really need a generation of even lazier fuckups?
Alcohol is legal, and everybody is responsible with that right?
(Score: 5, Informative) by Snow on Thursday September 17 2015, @03:13PM
I smoke about an ounce a month. I smoke every day.
I finished high school. I finished post secondary. I got a job. I make almost 90k/year. I'm married. I own my house, and we have 2 cars. This weekend me and my wife will be doing a 40km backpacking trip in the mountains (I'm not a fat slob -- well not fat anyways...).
Most people would have no idea I smoke so much weed. It is definitely possible to be a functional pot head, and I suspect more people are doing it that you imagine.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 17 2015, @03:36PM
Judging by the number of kids I saw who did back then, and where they are now, I'd say the majority of them are still fuckups.
While your fairy tale life is the norm for you, for the rest it is not.
If your "story" is true, it is likely that you possess the willpower to not let it control your life. Most do not, and even pot ruins lives.
Personally I think you're lying through your teeth, but hey this is the internet, so tell the biggest tall tale you can.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tchuladdiass on Thursday September 17 2015, @03:40PM
My personal opinion is that it isn't the pot that makes people lazy screwups, it is the lazy screwups that are more attracted to smoking pot in the first place (exceptions such as yours notwithstanding).
(Score: 2) by Snow on Thursday September 17 2015, @04:32PM
Yea, I would agree with that. Also, I never said that I wasn't lazy... Just that I'm not a screwup.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday September 18 2015, @12:59AM
Or perhaps it's only the lazy screwups that don't bother to hide the fact that they're regularly consuming one of the most illegal drugs in the country?
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday September 17 2015, @04:55PM
What ignorance. I worked since I was 16, spent 4 years in the Air Force, went to college, and am now comfortably retired, now I'm writing science fiction all day. I started smoking pot in 1971 and still do. I know a LOT of stoners, and all of them are either employed full-time or retired.
So shove your bigotry up your ass, coward.
No one born who could always afford anything he wanted can have a clue what "affordability" means.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Thursday September 17 2015, @05:20PM
It's selection bias. You know about the dysfunctional fuck-ups drug habits, but you never see the habits of someone functional enough to hide it.
(Score: 1) by malloc_free on Thursday September 17 2015, @05:22PM
(Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Thursday September 17 2015, @06:48PM
The fundamental right to control your own body is far more important than your personal feelings about people who smoke marijuana. But it's clear that petty things like fundamental liberties don't even factor into anything you believe.