HOPE FOR CANNABIS
If there is one thing the cannabis industry is lacking, it is more research into the medical properties of the cannabis plant. Luckily, Colorado State University, Pueblo (CSUP), was just approved for up to $270,000 of funding for research into cannabis’ impact on various conditions like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as well as research into how cannabis cultivation and sales affect the community at large.
CSUP will also be receiving an additional $900,000 in funding from Colorado’s Marijuana Tax Cash Fund to use for medical cannabis research. This huge sum of funding is thanks to Senate Bill 191, which was recently signed by Governor John Hickenlooper. As the first four-year, regional comprehensive university of its kind to conduct this scale of research on medical cannabis, this will hopefully set a precedent for other regions.
The aspects of the community research that will be conducted will look into the how much water and energy resources are being consumed by cannabis cultivation. The studies will also look into the money it costs to regulate the cannabis industry versus the profits earned from the cannabis industry. This should give taxpayers and officials a good idea into the successes or shortcomings of the cannabis cultivation and sales in Colorado.
According to The Denver Channel, Pueblo County Commissioner Sal Pace stated, “This is a momentous day. I am incredibly excited to have real quantifiable data about how cannabis is affecting our community.”
Pace explained that he saw three different levels of economic opportunities for Pueblo in regards to cannabis. He explained, “In the cannabis industry, I think the lowest opportunity lies in the store fronts and retail sales. On the next rung it’s cultivation because it’s a job creator and it’s generating money for the community through imports and taxes.”
The third rung is what Pace explains as the top opportunity for economic opportunity for Pueblo. This involves the possibility of bio-medical research and intellectual property on such research. Finding groundbreaking research into medicinal properties of cannabis and having the ability to then patent the new findings could make both Pueblo and the State of Colorado great profits.
According to The Denver Channel, CSUP Provost Kreminski stated, “These studies not only have a local interest but statewide and federal interest. It’s an area that has been understudied, and I am appreciative of the taxpayers’ decision to use marijuana tax revenue for this purpose.”
In addition to generating funds, these large sums of money for CSUP can ultimately heed research that will help save more lives.
