--- title: Uncle Sam Will Buy $69 Million Worth of Pot From Ole Miss description: Uncle Sam has awarded the University of Mississippi $68.8 million to grow marijuana and analyze it. canonical: https://time.com/3755253/university-mississippi-marijuana/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-23T22:31:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:54.573Z article:section: Politics og:title: Uncle Sam Will Buy $69 Million Worth of Pot From Ole Miss og:description: The college has been the sole producer of federally legal marijuana since 1968. og:url: https://time.com/3755253/university-mississippi-marijuana/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt130bbfee51a104d4/698784df524fc02f8bded088/ap445404913980-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Legally-grown marijuana grows at a dispensary in Denver on May 8, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Uncle Sam Will Buy $69 Million Worth of Pot From Ole Miss twitter:description: The college has been the sole producer of federally legal marijuana since 1968. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt130bbfee51a104d4/698784df524fc02f8bded088/ap445404913980-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Uncle Sam Will Buy $69 Million Worth of Pot From Ole Miss by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Mar 23, 2015 10:31 PM UTC  Legally-grown marijuana grows at a dispensary in Denver on May 8, 2014. Legally-grown marijuana grows at a dispensary in Denver on May 8, 2014.Brennan Linsley—AP by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Mar 23, 2015 10:31 PM UTC Uncle Sam has awarded the University of Mississippi $68.8 million to grow marijuana and analyze it. The contract awarded Monday by an arm of the National Institutes of Health will go to a marijuana research lab at Ole Miss, which has been the sole producer of federally legal marijuana since 1968\. The project is ramping up to grow 30,000 plants, according to the [Los Angeles _Times_](http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pot-monopoly-20140529-story.html#page=1). In its solicitation, the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse mandated a “secure and video monitored outdoor facility of approximately 12 acres” that could handle the “cultivation, growing, harvesting, analyzing, and storing of research grade cannabis,” according to a listing posted on a federal government [website](https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=a9add8776134243fdae0a06ee07d1b4c&tab=core&%5Fcview=1). “The indoor facility must be at least 1000 square feet, having controls for light intensity, photo cycles, temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration,” it added. **MORE:** [The Rise of Fake Pot](http://time.com/magazine/us/57155/april-21st-2014-vol-183-no-15-u-s/) The government said it’s interested in developing new methods for growing plants that contain a variety of different levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical most responsible for pot’s psychological “high” effect, and cannabidiol, a nonpychoactive ingredient claimed in [high-profile anecdotes](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/opinion/we-need-proof-on-marijuana.html) to effectively treat medical disorders like epilepsy. When the contract solicitation was posted online in August, an NIDA spokeswoman told TIME that the agency was simply starting a new bidding competition since its existing marijuana farm contract was set to expire in 2015. There are 23 states with laws allowing access to medical marijuana and 18 states that have decriminalized pot, including four states — Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska — that have legalized the drug for recreational purposes. Federal law still classifies marijuana as a drug on par with heroin, LSD and ecstasy. ### Go Inside the Harvest of Colorado's Most Controversial Marijuana Strain  Charlotte's Web grows on the Stanley brother's farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014\. The Stanley Brothers have developed a popular strain of cannabis that has been found to be helpful in reducing seizures in some children. Charlotte's Web is high in a compound called cannabidiol (CBD) and low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) the compound that causes a high. Matt Nager for TIME  Charlotte's Web grows on the Stanley brother's farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  From left: Zachary Sobol, Michael Atchley, and Jared Stanley walk to the farm to prepare for harvest of Charlotte's Web near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Rows of Charlotte's Web await harvest at the Stanley brother's farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Jared Stanley helps in the harvest of Charlotte's Web on the Stanley brother's farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Colin Sparks searches for seeds during the harvest of Charlotte's Web on the Stanley brother's Charlotte's Web farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Discarded leaves of Charlotte's Web at a farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Tim Knight helps in the harvest of Charlotte's Web on the Stanley brother's farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Rows of Charlotte's Web await travel to a drying facility after being harvested on a farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Zachary Sobol catches a ride on a trailer to the Stanley brother's farm during harvest of Charlotte's Web near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Rows of Charlotte's Web await travel to a drying facility after being harvested from a farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  One of the Stanley brother's greenhouses growing cannabis near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Zachary Sobol hangs rows of Charlotte's Web to dry after harvest in Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Penn Mattison, left, and Zachary Sobol, right, hang rows of Charlotte's Web to dry after being harvested from a farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  The Stanley brothers' new company laboratory in Boulder, Colo. on Sept. 23, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  A petri dish full of cannabis explants await transfer and transplanting at the Stanley brothers' lab in Boulder, Colo. on Sept. 23, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Molecular plant biologist and lab manager Bear Reel awaits the cooling of agar to help induce rooting of transplanted cannabis plants at the Stanley brothers' company laboratory in Boulder, Colo. on Sept. 23, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  The lab notebook of molecular plant biologist and lab manager Bear Reel at the Stanley brothers' company laboratory in Boulder, Colo. on Sept. 23, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  A flask of agar cools before explants of hemp are transplanted to help induce rooting and new growth at the Stanley brothers' company laboratory in in Boulder, Colo. on Sept. 23, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Tissue cutter technician Meg Regan holds a vial of explants before sanitizing and transplanting at the Stanley brothers' laboratory in Boulder, Colo. on Sept. 23, 2014. 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