Monday, May 4, 2015

Cannabis Chemistry Committee was established as an official committee

An effort to establish a cannabis chemistry division at the American Chemical Society has been under way since September 2014 (C&EN, Nov. 10, 2014, page 4). Great strides were made at the ACS national meeting in Denver. The Cannabis Chemistry Committee was established as an official committee of the Small Chemical Businesses Division (SCHB). I was elected chair; additional members will be found among many of the individuals who expressed strong interest in active membership. 
The greatest student interest (undergraduate and graduate) comes from schools in the Northwest and Southeast. These will likely be the first locations for networking events that will bring students face-to-face with industry leaders, academic researchers, and like-minded peers. The petition for division formation received more than 300 signatures—50 signatures are needed.
The committee will plan programming at upcoming meetings and will hold networking events. At the 2016 spring ACS national meeting in San Diego, a full-day symposium cohosted by SCHB and the Agricultural & Food Chemistry Division will be organized. The first networking events will take place in June. 
For those who were not able to meet us in Denver but would like to participate, please contact us at acscannabischemistry@gmail.com. Member activities could include mentoring, participating in regional events, or contributing to educational programs. If you would like to see the petition and support us with a signature, please go to tinyurl.com/naonap7. 
Ezra M. Pryor
Chair, Cannabis Chemistry Committee
Ontario, Calif.
I will continue to track these developments...  

5 comments:

  1. When they mention schools in the Southeast, they must mean mostly researchers from Ole Miss. They have the only FDA approved marijuana farm to produce research cannabis. It will be interesting to see the effect that the cannabis committee have on promoting medical applications of cannabis derived pharmaceuticals.

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  2. I guess someone really is intent on becoming the official face of cannabis chemistry. Hope it works out, would hate to try going back into another sector with that resume.

    Ben--i think when he says "student interest" he means all the students in college are smoking pot.

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  4. Minutes -

    Today the ACS Cannabis Chemistry Division committee held a vote, but was stymied when none of the members could recall what the vote was for. Whatever it was passed unanimously. Then there was a proposal to order pizza, which also passed. This hit several snags, not the least of which was failure to locate sufficient cash to pay for the ordered food. Budget cuts were blamed. The delivery-person was therefore asked to join the committee in lieu of financial compensation. It was then noted that perhaps it would be necessary to locate another pizza restaurant with delivery for future meetings. A forward-thinking member of the committee speculated that this might not be a good long-term solution, and that the gradual accretion of delivery people could ultimately subvert the democratic process and aims of the original committee members, "which is like, all they need to bring us down, man." One member left the room to locate a flyer for another pizza restaurant and neglected to return.

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looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20