3) David Watson interview: “The cannabis enigma.”

Dr. Dope's Connection

David Watson, CEO of Dutch company Hortapharm, has assembled what is arguably the most comprehensive library of cannabis seeds in the world. Or the base they want to target and protect from the best breeders

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 pharmaceutical research and development. There was only one problem: Where in the world could Geoffrey Guy, founder and chairman of GW, find a legal source of pharmaceutical-grade marijuana seeds, enough to grow "tons" of cannabis? Someone from England's Home Office gave Guy some advice: an isolated Dutch company called Hortapharm, founded by two California expats, might be able to help him.

In the world of weed connoisseurs, Hortapharm founders David Watson and Robert Clarke are near-gods. For purists..."the Devil himself". Clarke, Hortapharm's senior botanist, is the author of Marijuana Botany and Hashish! , the first serious and scientific books on cannabis culture aimed at a counterculture readership. Watson, the company's CEO, has traveled to nearly every marijuana-rich country on the planet and assembled what is arguably the most comprehensive library of cannabis seeds in the world. Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for Marijuana Law Reform, credits Watson with "almost single-handedly preserving hundreds to thousands of strains of cannabis."

When I met Watson in his office in a residential area of Amsterdam, he gave me two marijuana seeds. One seed, from Kashmir, was the size of a pinhead – “wild ditch weed, budding marijuana,” Watson called it. The other was a hemp seed, as oily as a lentil. The seeds could easily have symbolized the extent of his study of Cannabis sativa.

Watson has the build of a linebacker and the crooked smile of Jack Nicholson. On the subject of cannabis, he is fiercely opinionated, frequently punctuating his assertions with a blunt refrain: “Do you understand? The following are excerpts from a lengthy interview, in which he describes how he and Clarke became two of the pioneering entrepreneurs in the above-ground marijuana economy.

What made you start collecting cannabis seeds?

I had a jewelry and clothing import business in the 70s and early 80s, and traveled extensively throughout Asia. During my stay in India, I discovered Ayurvedic medicine, which still uses cannabis to treat a wide variety of illnesses. I have always been interested in seeds, am a lifetime member of the Seed Savers Exchange in the United States, and started collecting cannabis seeds to see how different varieties could be used for different medical applications. I also saw how eradication efforts by international law enforcement agencies were having a negative effect on the highest gene pool. I wanted to collect this top of the line before it was lost. I collected thousands of strains from dozens of countries in Mexico, South Africa, Thailand and Colombia.

How would you find the seeds you wanted?

It depends. If it's during the growing season, you may be able to come into contact with an illicit farmer. If it's off-season, you need to contact someone who sells illegal cannabis. I walked into pharmacies and asked, "If I was interested in obtaining cannabis plant seeds to make medicine, where could I get them?" In southern India, I informed the police that I was collecting and one of them offered me a plant! My goal was to collect all these genetics from all over the world. It wasn't easy: sometimes you have to put yourself in danger to get the goods.

What kind of plant would you be looking for?

Generally, you are looking for a clean genetic profile, the ability to produce the compound you are looking for. And you want a plant that produces lots of flowers, lots of resin. If the plant doesn't have a lot of resin, it probably won't contain a lot of THC, even if the profile is incredibly clean. You need both.

The clones that people use to produce illicit marijuana contain, by far, only THC (the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana). They don't really have the other cannabinoids because, year after year, recreational smokers have selected only THC and rejected everything else. But because we grow for medicinal purposes, we look for THC and all the other cannabinoids. [Cannabis is composed of 61+ cannabinoids, complex molecules specific to the plant, of which THC is the best known.] I have no interest in collecting varieties developed in the West by marijuana producers. They just contain the same old THC, which is what recreational smokers are looking for. I want strains that have unusual characteristics in their growing or flowering period, or new and unusual sources of cannabinoids.

What pushed you to launch Hortapharm?

Our initial business plan was to produce pharmaceutical grade cannabis and use it to produce a cheaper generic version of Marinol. [Marinol is a synthetic THC tablet intended to treat nausea induced by cancer chemotherapy.] We knew we could produce pure THC from the plant, which is superior to synthetic. I am convinced that the synergistic effects of the whole plant, which in its natural form produces 400 compounds, are far more medically beneficial than any single synthetic component.

We were going to drop our price by at least a third or more compared to the price of Marinol. We thought that within a year or two we could capture 66% of Marinol's $20 million market, which was enough to support our small business. But money wasn't the reason we did this. We really wanted to bring cannabis back into traditional medicine.

Given the drug laws in the United States, I guess you had no choice but to establish Hortapharm in the Netherlands.

We could never have done this business in America – we would have become old and gray just waiting to do the work. So in 1994 we applied to the Dutch Ministry of Health for a license to grow cannabis. We finally got it in 1997, which made us the first legal operation in the Netherlands to grow cannabis for pharmaceutical research. The application process was extremely rigorous. I was shocked by how long it took. Holland has this reputation as the world capital of marijuana. But while it is true that you can buy a small quantity in a cafe, the government is very strict when it comes to cultivation.

How did you go about growing pharmaceutical grade cannabis, which must be standardized to be made into medicine?

That's the thing. If you bought tomato seeds and grew 100 plants, they would all produce the same result. But if you bought cannabis seeds on the black market and grew 100 plants, you'll probably get a lot of variation. Home growers simply don't understand how to do the breeding. I have spent years collecting cannabis seeds from all over the world. We grew thousands and thousands of them, analyzed them and selected them based on the target compounds that we really wanted. We grew the plants in a large greenhouse and we also grew them outdoors in secret locations.

After extracting the seeds we wanted from this crop, we burned the five acres. My American friends were stunned: it would have been worth millions of dollars on the black market. But that's what plant breeders do: we grow 100,000 plants, keep 100 of them, and destroy everything else. I love killing. I get rid of everything that is imperfect.

Okay, so you have the seeds you wanted. How did you then grow genetically consistent plants, a prerequisite for drug production?

Cannabis is normally heterozygous, meaning it has two sets of chromosomes: one from the mother and one from the father, and they vary. Through a proprietary technique we developed called self-fertilization, we became the first breeders in the world to develop homozygous cannabis, in which both sets of chromosomes are identical. We then mass produced plants with just the cannabinoid profile we wanted. We have grown plants with 98% THC or 98% CBD. And that's what Geoffrey Guy [founder of GW Pharmaceuticals] was looking for. He wanted different cannabinoids – THC, CBD, CBC, CBG – which he could then mix in different ratios and explore for their medical effectiveness. We were the only ones in the world who had what Geoffrey so desperately needed.

How did you meet Dr. Guy?

We had sent a representative to a meeting of the Multiple Sclerosis Society in England, which Geoffrey was attending. We were the only ones to support the UK government's position on medical marijuana, which was to take a step-by-step approach to studying the issue. Everyone just wanted to legalize medical marijuana. We thought it best to test the materials first and put them through the normal drug approval process. Our colleague impressed Geoffrey and he contacted us.

When Geoffrey arrived here in 1998, we were nearing our financial limit. We're a cannabis company - we didn't have a product that brought in revenue. The problem for Geoffrey is that all cannabis experts have experience: they have built their expertise working with illegal equipment. But Hortapharm was fully approved by the Dutch government. So Geoffrey obtained a legal supply of pharmaceutical grade germ plasma. And he got me and Robert Clarke to pass on our knowledge. We gave it at least five years head start.

If Sativex, GW's cannabis-based drug to treat MS symptoms, is approved by UK regulators, what effect will it have on the medical marijuana debate?

This will demonstrate to individuals, patients and businesses that cannabis can be a valuable therapeutic agent. And once Sativex gets the green light in the UK, it will quickly be approved in Europe, Canada and Australia – and the US will be the only country to say: No, cannabis has no applications therapeutic. But I don't think American scientists will accept this.