By Estelle Jarrett
UConn Journalism
November 9, 2022
Mansfield – The University of Connecticut has been at the forefront of cannabis research and education in recent years and has the potential to be a national leader in this scholarship area according to UConn professor Dr. Gerald Berkowitz.
So many cannabis companies, councils, and university education programs have been formed in New England within the last year, according to the Department of Cannabis Control, and UConn has a finger in every pie. There have been many changes in laws regulating cannabis production, use, and research that could bode well for students looking to enter a field where jobs are readily available.
Berkowitz is an Agriculture Biotechnology professor and molecular geneticist who has been navigating the legality of cannabis in the United States for years. In the last five years, he has been graced with new bills and cultural attitudes changing towards the plant.
In the past year, UConn fostered a cannabis research forum called RiCH- a group of scientists meeting to discuss cannabis research. Berkowitz and UConn’s chemistry department collaborated to write a grant proposal to the USDA. This new grant would design and fund special plastic for cannabis greenhouses to optimize a particular spectrum of light to increase THC production by 20–25%.
“That came about because a university is a place where plant biologists, chemists, and physicists are all here in one place, so having a cannabis forum provides a context for all sorts of discoveries,” Berkowitz explained.
Berkowitz also mentioned the New England Cannabis Research and Education Conference that will take place on October 21. The conference will bring in international researchers as well as help students interact with companies. UConn will be heavily involved, and the public or students can attend for free.
All this being said, UConn still does not allow marijuana research in laboratories. Marijuana is still considered a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, along with drugs such as heroin. There are concerns about the government taking federal funding away if anyone without a Schedule I license studies plant material with a THC level higher than 0.3.
Since “Horticulture of Cannabis: From Seed to Harvest ”, UConn’s one-of-a-kind class that provided essential training and hands-on lab work in the industry, the university has made public statements and done activities to support cannabis research. In fact, new President Radenka Maric of UConn was vice president for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship and very vigorously promoted cannabis scholarship at the university, Berkowitz explained.
“I feel very fortunate to be at this university because upper-level administrators have been listening to me and figuring out ways to promote scholarship in this area,” Berkowitz said.
Since the first budding of cannabis education during that horticulture class, there has since been a national association created for the education of cannabis called NAMCE, that Berkowitz is a founding member of. It is a non-profit organization that ensures that the quality of education on cannabis is sufficient and appropriate for industry use. Universities in the greater New England area with cannabis programs now include Eastern Connecticut State University, the University of New Haven, and several community colleges. UConn is not involved with these other universities but paved a path. The interest in cannabis in jobs is an undeniable attraction to Universities, Berkowitz thinks.
Graduate student Cameron Collins who works under Berkowitz, can attest. His cannabinoid research in the lab produces easily transferable skills to cannabis startup companies, many of which are connected with UConn, explained Collins. He works in the labs at UConn with other students making new discoveries in his individual research in what interests him and has an opportunity to share with the greater community in cannabis council meetings.
UConn’s Incubator Director, Parker Paul mentioned two companies that utilize cannabinoids in their products: 3BC, Inc and Oneness Technologies. Dr. Brian Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of 3BC, Inc received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Connecticut. Much of the research is assisted by discoveries in UConn labs. 3BC, Inc is a company based in Farmington that helps manufacturers sell safe and clean hemp-based products to customers. Thompson says that this is a science that is trusted to ensure customers do not get sick from products.
According to Berkowitz, UConn can purchase marijuana seeds and have seedlings that, until they flower, will be below 0.3% THC, therefore being considered hemp- not marijuana. But, if scientists want to study a flowered marijuana plant, they’d have to do so in a laboratory with a Schedule 1 license, something that is not in existence near UConn’s campus.
Berkowitz explained his struggles to obtain a license from the Federal Government to grow and study hemp in his UConn lab. The process involves a criminal history check, seed certification contracts, and scheduled plot inspections.
He explained how he was told to lock the plants in a fortified safe bolted to the ground and install a finger scanning system at the door so there would be a log of who entered the lab. Berkowitz took these changes in stride but shared that he had to explain and advocate for the parameters of the science. The cannabis samples could not be locked in a safe since it is not temperature regulated to a refrigerated level. After more paperwork, the rules were modified for continued research.
As it stands, Berkowitz explains that things are changing daily, and their research’s potential is endless. Their team is barely scratching the surface. The plant still holds many mysteries to the science world and thus the everyday citizen.