http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/science/21mari.html

Every so often, a package of marijuana arrives in Jason B. West’s mail at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. While Dr. West may not be the only one on campus receiving deliveries of illegal drugs, he is probably the only one getting them compliments of the federal government.
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Gary Kazanjian for The New York Times




Dr. West’s marijuana supply is decidedly not for consumption. It is meticulously cataloged and managed, repeatedly weighed to make sure none disappears, and returned to the sender (a laboratory at the University of Mississippi) or destroyed when he is done with it.
With financing from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Dr. West, 34, is creating a model that can identify the geographic origin of cannabis plants based on certain chemical calling cards. The agency hopes to use the research to help decide where to concentrate its resources.
The research, the marijuana Signature Project, relies on stable isotopes, which are forms of an element like nitrogen or oxygen, that have distinct atomic masses. Long employed in ecological research, stable isotopes are increasingly used for forensic purposes, including investigations into blood doping, arson and trafficking in contraband like drugs and endangered species.
“Stable isotopes are a signature on plant materials and things that are derived from plants,” said Dr. West, a research assistant professor in the university’s biology department. “Using them, you can get information about where something grew and its growth environment.”
marijuana is the most pervasive illegal drug in the United States, with 10,000 metric tons consumed yearly by Americans in their college dormitories, suburban subdivisions, housing projects and Hollywood mansions.
Although suppliers in Mexico and Canada, especially British Columbia, are gaining market share, most of the marijuana that is bought, sold and smoked by Americans is grown domestically. Six states — California, Hawaii, Kentucky, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington — dominate domestic marijuana production. Beyond that, relatively little is known about where the drug comes from and how it makes its way around the country compared with what is known about harder drugs like cocaine or heroin.
The drug control policy office is betting on stable isotopes to identify unique markers in marijuana, distinguishing it not just by geography but also by its cultivation method — for example, indoor versus outdoor.

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i just want to know why they have nothing better to dedicate time research and money too.
last time i checked there's been no cure for cancer /aids / or even stupidity (jk) but u get the point

What a waste. Why not try to find out how to make it BETTER. What a waste of money.

What a horrendous waste of money and effort.

That information is easily obtained by asking where it came from. Most
people or places are happy to tell the story of it's exotic origan.

The article narrowed it down about as far as any study will.

Unless this study can tell me if it came from next door, or three houses past that one. WHAT GOOD IS IT?

Real Usefull !!! Tax Dollars At Work!!!

That came from Washington