More research is being done in the cannabis industry all the time, and even public research universities are taking part it in. $210,000 in funding was approved for research between the University of Guelph and Abcann Medicinals to study irrigation technology for growing cannabis. The technology is the same kind that has previously been used to study whether food could be grown in space.
A major goal of this project is to standardize medical cannabis production. “Standardize. That’s the key word” says Mike Dixon, director of Controlled Environment Systems Research facility at the university.
He says that plant-based pharmaceuticals are more difficult to control than ones that are made chemically in a test tube. Dixon is hoping for a standard consistency so that “the dose that the doctor prescribes the cancer patient today is the same that he prescribes tomorrow,” Dixon explained.
Part of the research involves sensors attached to the plants in order to see the response based on different irrigation techniques and strategies. Dixon says that “You can essentially watch the plant’s management of water.”
This type of research will surely become more common as cannabis legalization in Canada moves ahead in the future. One school in BC is even offering courses on how to grow cannabis professionally.