The Marijuana Signature Project

An interesting forensic approach is under investigation by scientists working for the ONDCP. Under the moniker of the Marijuana Signature Project, these scientists hope to learn more about where and how marijuana is cultivated across the nation:

With financing from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Dr. [Jason B.] West, 34, is creating a model that can identify the geographic origin of cannabis plants based on certain chemical calling cards. The agency hopes to use the research to help decide where to concentrate its resources.

The research, the Marijuana Signature Project, relies on stable isotopes, which are forms of an element like nitrogen or oxygen, that have distinct atomic masses. Long employed in ecological research, stable isotopes are increasingly used for forensic purposes, including investigations into blood doping, arson and trafficking in contraband like drugs and endangered species.

"Stable isotopes are a signature on plant materials and things that are derived from plants," said Dr. West, a research assistant professor in the university's biology department. "Using them, you can get information about where something grew and its growth environment."

Surprisingly, despite what seems to a layperson like me to be a staggering number of marijuana busts each day, the government still apparently feels it has relatively little information on marijuana production:

Although suppliers in Mexico and Canada, especially British Columbia, are gaining market share, most of the marijuana that is bought, sold and smoked by Americans is grown domestically. Six states -- California, Hawaii, Kentucky, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington -- dominate domestic marijuana production. Beyond that, relatively little is known about where the drug comes from and how it makes its way around the country compared with what is known about harder drugs like cocaine or heroin.

The drug control policy office is betting on stable isotopes to identify unique markers in marijuana, distinguishing it not just by geography but also by its cultivation method -- for example, indoor versus outdoor.

"It's an epidemiological and forensic public health investigation," said David Murray, chief scientist at the agency and director of its Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center.

This, of course, is the part where I'm obligated to mention how easy it would be to understand all this if marijuana were legal and in fact regulated by the government, but instead, I think I'll just nod quietly and go about my business.