Dr. Dope's Connection

This Web Exclusive is offered as a supplement to Fast Company's February 2004 article "The Cannabis Conundrum."

In the annals of medical-marijuana history, it was a significant moment: In June 1998, British regulators granted GW Pharmaceuticals a license to cultivate and supply marijuana for research and pharmaceutical development. There was just one problem: Where in the world would Geoffrey Guy, GW's founder and chairman, find a legal source of pharmaceutical-grade marijuana seeds -- enough to grow "tons" of material? Someone in England's Home Office gave Guy a tip: A reclusive Dutch company called Hortapharm, founded by two Californian expatriates, might be able to help him out.

In the world of ganja connoisseurs, Hortapharm's founders -- David Watson and Robert Clarke -- are near-gods. Clarke, Hortapharm's principal botanist, is the author of Marijuana Botany and Hashish!, the first serious, science-based books on cannabis cultivation for a counter-culture readership. Watson, the company's CEO, traveled to nearly every marijuana-rich country on the planet and assembled what is arguably the world's most comprehensive cannabis-seed library. Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, credits Watson with "almost single-handedly preserving hundreds of strains of cannabis."

When I met Watson in his office in a residential neighborhood in Amsterdam, he presented me with two marijuana seeds. One seed, from Kashmir, was the size of a pinhead -- "wild ditch weed, wannabe marijuana," Watson called it. The other was a hemp seed, as fat as a lentil. The seeds could easily have symbolized the breadth of his study of Cannabis sativa.

Watson has a linebacker's build and a crooked, Jack Nicholson smile. On the subject of cannabis, he is ferociously opinionated, frequently punctuating his assertions with an in-your-face refrain: "Do you understand?" What follows are excerpts from a lengthy interview, in which he describes how he and Clarke came to be two of the pioneering entrepreneurs in the Aboveground Marijuana Economy.

What drove you to collect cannabis seeds?

I had a jewelry and clothing import business during the 1970s and early '80s, and I did a lot of traveling throughout Asia. While I was in India, I became aware of Ayurvedic medicine, which still uses cannabis to treat a wide variety of illnesses. I've always had an interest in seeds -- I'm a lifetime member of the Seed Savers Exchange in the US -- and I began collecting cannabis seeds to see how different strains might be used for different medical applications. I also saw how eradication efforts by international law enforcement agencies were having a negative effect on the very high end of the gene pool. I wanted to collect that high end before it was lost. I collected in Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, Colombia -- thousands of strains from dozens of countries.

How would you find the seeds that you wanted?

It depends. If it's during the growing season, you might be able to make contact with an illicit farmer. If it's out of season, you've got to connect with a person who sells illegal cannabis. I've walked into pharmacies and asked, "If I was interested in getting seeds from the cannabis plant for making medicine, where would I get them?" In south India, I notified the police that I was collecting and one of them gave me a plant as a present! My goal was to collect all of these genetics worldwide. It wasn't easy -- sometimes you have to step into harm's way to get the goods.

What kind of a plant would you look for?

In general, you're looking for a clean genetic profile -- the ability to produce the compound you're after. And you want a plant that's producing lots of flowers -- lots of resin. If the plant doesn't have a lot of resin on it, it's probably not going to have very much THC in it, even if the profile is incredibly clean. You need both.

The clones that people are using to produce illicit marijuana are by far primarily only THC [the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana]. They don't really have the other cannabinoids because year after year, recreational smokers have selected only for THC and rejected everything else. But because we're breeding for medicine, we're after THC and all the other cannabinoids. [Cannabis is comprised of 61 cannabinoids, complex molecules unique to the plant, of which THC is the best known.] I don't have any interest in collecting varieties that have been developed in the West by marijuana growers. They're just have the same old THC, which is what recreational smokers are looking for. I want varieties that have unusual characteristics in their growth or flowering period, or new and unusual sources of cannabinoids.