DEA Awards Seventh Cannabis Cultivation License For Research Purposes

The US’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Department of Justice have licensed the company Maridose to produce cannabis for research purposes.

The Maine-based company is the seventh to receive such a license “for the bulk manufacture of cannabis to supply marijuana, cannabis extracts and THC to researchers.”

New cultivators, new crops

For decades, the sole source of cannabis for scientific research in the United States has been a single cultivation facility operated at the University of Mississippi.

In 2016, the Obama administration announced that the DEA would begin accepting applications to approve additional manufacturers, but no approvals were ever made during the Trump administration.

In 2021, under the Biden administration, the DEA finally awarded new bulk manufacturing licenses to four other organizations, including the Scottsdale Research Institute and Royal Emerald Pharmaceuticals.

Earlier this year, the federal agency also licensed Irvine Labs in Huntington Beach, California. Maridose's successful bid marks the seventh such license.

“We are very excited to receive this license from the DEA to produce and sell cannabis for research purpose, this a huge step for science and the future of cannabis,” Richard Shain, Maridose’s founder, said in a statement.

“Our DEA Registration NumberRM063095 is the culmination of over five years of working with the DEA and enables Maridose to legally sell a wide variety of cannabis products through the DEA to researchers and DEA-licensed pharmaceutical companies in the United States and internationally.”

“The DEA has indicated that it will only issue a very limited number of them, and Maridose is proud to be one of the first companies to receive a license.”