
Newly Risen from Yeast: THC - Hooke
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/15/science/newly-risen-from-yeast-thc.html
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joshribakoff
> European regulators, he said, are eager for a way to create a steady supply
> of THC and other cannabinoids without actually cultivating marijuana. “They
> are in fear that these plants will be grown and will support some illegal
> farming,”

So the regulators are eager to flood the market with GMO THC, so they can stop
people from growing their own organic THC? Sounds like they just want to
commercialize & control it.

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yid
> GMO THC

Well that's a new one, because THC isn't an "organism", nor is it "genetically
modified".

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bduerst
I think what they meant was GMO-produced THC.

GMO as an adjective is prone to RAS syndrome - e.g. GMO corn is "genetically
modified organism corn".

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arca_vorago
I have a strong dislike for these artificial THC drug pushes, because they
ignore the real issue: the fact that marijuana helps people with a variety of
medical ailments is largely because of the over 400+ cannabinoids, of which
THC-cb1 and THC-cb2 are only two, while we are ignoring the other ones
individually and as a compound/complementary effect.

For example, I know vets with PTSD who say mj is the only thing that helps
them, but some of them are in states where the VA will stop providing care or
withhold medication/treatment/payments if they test positive... but the VA has
a deal with some pharmaceutical companies and it's legal to give two
variations of synthetic THC, and every single one of the guys I know who have
tried it have said it was nothing like mj, provided almost none of the
benefits, and was often a very negative experience.

Don't misunderstand, I worked in biotech for a while and encourage the
learning process of using methods like this to potentially produce and study
certain drugs, but this is a drug that doesn't have a supply problem, because
it's everywhere, it's easy to grow, it only has a legal problem. Synthetics
seem like a way to capitalize legally on a black market that shouldn't exist.

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makmanalp
This is exactly why I have an issue with meal replacement (e.g. soylent) stuff
being used in the long term, or reductionistic nutrition advice that considers
food only as a source of protein, carbs, fat and fiber. The fact is, we're
discovering a ton of compounds in a ton of foods that have unexpected effects
and benefits, not to mention synergistic effects that happen only when
multiple compounds are together. To pretend that we know how all of it works
seems like hubris to me.

~~~
aianus
> To pretend that we know how all of it works seems like hubris to me.

If nobody gives living on eg. Soylent a shot, we'll never learn one way or the
other.

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CuriouslyC
The problem is that in order to really "test" the hypothesis that soylent is
equivalent to a healthy diet, you need to compare them under conditions of
stress, and over long time periods.

Sure soylent might work for the average sedentary type in the short term, but
how does it fare for an athlete pushing the boundaries of their body?
Additionally, what is the lifespan of a soylent consumer compared to someone
who eats a high quality diet loaded with vegetables? I would argue both cases
would show the vast inferiority of soylent.

~~~
aianus
Off topic but, what's the point of living longer if you waste a fifth of your
days cooking, cleaning, and eating?

~~~
redblacktree
What's the point of living longer if I have to consume bland, tasteless crap
every time I get hungry?

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aianus
You'll free up lots of time and money to do better things than eating? Sex,
work, sleep, punching myself in the face, pretty much anything beats cooking,
eating, and cleaning.

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joesmo
I don't see how this is superior to having the plant itself create THC which
is much simpler and cheaper. Other than being a cool trick, how is this going
to change the world, as the article claims? It really doesn't specify how the
THC produced from yeast is any better or different than that produced from the
plant. Can yeast production be scaled up in ways that plat production can't?
Or is it just that it might be more illogically acceptable to certain people
because it comes from yeast?

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hnnicker
There was a SF author (Bear or Brin?) who wrote an essay back in the 90's
about the future of drug wars. Much of the enforcement back then was on
stopping the import of drugs from overseas. But once gene splicing created a
way to produce the drugs within the USA, the enforce would switch to raiding
warehouses, etc. The next step would be when the technology reduced the drug
manufacture to a table top box that could be in any home (think make your own
insulin). Then the enforcement has to raid peoples homes. The last step is
when the technology allows the drugs to be produced by symbionts growing
within a person.

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redblacktree
The buck probably stops at the table-top box. Prohibition-era homes weren't
typically raided for small-scale alcohol production. Indeed, products like
this "grape juice"[0] included instructions on how not to make wine.

[0]: [http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2013/05/wine-and-
prohibition-w...](http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2013/05/wine-and-prohibition-
wine-bricks-american-wine-consumption-history.html)

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unoti
My lifelong dream of THC sourdough is now one step closer.

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chopin
Afaik sourdough does not contain any yeast but bacteria. The finally prepared
bread dough may but is not required to contain yeast.

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verbophobe
As an avid sourdough enthusiast, I can assure you that this is wrong :)

Sourdough is a culture that's (mostly) a stable colony of wild yeast and
lactic acid bacteria. Generally speaking, the yeast provides the rising power,
and the lactic acid bacteria provide lactic acid giving the dough a sour
(acidic) flavour.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough#Biology_and_chemistr...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough#Biology_and_chemistry_of_sourdough)

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peter303
I wonder what the purification efficiency is. For example they've been working
on GMO-octane from green algae for a couple of decades. But refining its low
concentrations is still uncompetitive with petroleum.

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tdaltonc
A mol of THC is worth a lot more than a mol of octane.

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deleterious
Eh. Science can't even make a good sugar substitute...

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chadzawistowski
There's a difference between a chemical analogue and an alternative way of
producing the _same_ chemical.

Glucose is still glucose whether it comes from sugar cane, corn, beets, or
other sources.

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task_queue
Marijuana is more than just THC.

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civilian
Yes, it's a variety of ingredients, but while medically-used THC comes from a
cannabis plant, it's often been purified so much that it's still only THC.

