A New Crop of Marijuana Geneticists Build Better Weed

[Narrator] Ah, Blue Dream.

It'll give you that lovely euphoria.

But of course if you want some wings,

Sour Diesel is definitely the way to go.

The dizzing number of cannabis strains

each have a unique personality.

But how a specific variety reacts within your body

is still largely a scientific mystery.

That's partly because marijuana is still a Schedule 1 drug,

which makes it pretty difficult to research.

We had this anectodal evidence.

We knew that some of the compounds were useful.

Now it's time to get serious about it

and to understand what those compounds are

so that we can really put it to good use.

[Narrator] A company in Berkeley, California, of course

is decoding all those popular strains

to unlock the true potential of cannabis.

Steep Hill is a

cannabis analytics lab

and what that means is that we

are interested in identifying

basically everything that we can

about cannabis.

[Narrator] The lab does quality control

for dispensaries that want to be 100% sure

that their product is safe.

It tests for pesticides for instance.

And determines if mold or fungus has infected a sample.

And then there's the chemical profiling that we do,

which is important to be able to do accurate dosing

and to determine whether or not a particular strain

even has the compound that you need.

Some strains are high in THC,

some strains are high in CBD.

[Narrator] Those are two examples of compounds

called cannabinoids.

But there's another class called, terpenoids.

Those molecules are what make a strain smell

piney or lemony or mangoey.

But they also could have an effect

on how the plant makes you feel.

It's the synergistic interaction between

what they call, the entourage effect.

The cannabinoids, the terpenes, the flavonoids,

and probably even some other things

we haven't even begun to really realize

that really is important to be able to say,

oh, this strain is good for this because of these things.

[Narrator] Once they know more

about the chemical makeup of each strain,

genetic mapping could allow Steep Hill

to work with breeders to improve their strains.

Chemical testing and profiling it,

and genetic testing is of vital importance

because it allows us to understand the plant

in a way that allows us to treat it

as a bona fide medicine.