Since the 1970s, the Marijuana Project at the University of Mississippi, known as Ole Miss, has been the sole provider of marijuana for federal research in the United States. The farm and the studies it supports are strictly regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Between its inception and 2007, the farm supported only a small amount of research because there was little to no demand by scientists. In the spring of 2013, when CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta first visited the Marijuana Project, there were no approved studies. But today, it’s a much different story. Acres of the farm are teeming with research-grade medical cannabis in anticipation of a renewed interest in government-approved research.