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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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DNA separates hemp from marijuana plants
United Press International
Wednesday 22 Mar 2006 MINNEAPOLIS, March 22 (UPI) -- Two University of Minnesota scientists have become the first to unequivocally separate hemp plants from marijuana plants by using genetic markers. Hemp, a crop grown for fiber and seed, and marijuana, the most popular illegal drug in the United States, both belong to the species Cannabis sativa. They differ in levels of the psychoactive drug tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, but are otherwise difficult to tell apart. The study's authors -- George Weiblen, a Minnesota professor of plant biology, and Shannon Datwyler a postdoctoral associate who is on the faculty of California State University-Sacramento -- say the new DNA "fingerprinting" technique holds promise for distinguishing different domesticated plant lines in U.S. criminal cases. It may also prove useful in nations where the cultivation of hemp is permitted, but marijuana is illegal, as in Canada and Europe. The study appears in the March issue of the Journal of Forensic Science.
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