UC Berkeley Launching Cannabis Industry Research Center

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BERKELEY (CBS SF) – The University of California at Berkeley has launched the Cannabis Research Center that will explore the impacts of cannabis production on the environment and society, UC officials said Tuesday.

The center will focus on three distinct areas of research as they relate to cannabis production: policy and regulation, environmental impacts, and cannabis-producing communities.

Van Butsic and Ted Grantham, who both work in UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, will lead the center's multidisciplinary team.

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"This is a rapidly changing industry, and no one really knows where it is headed," Grantham said in a statement. "We believe researchers have an important role in bringing independent scientific information to conversations around cannabis policy."

While other research groups are exploring the health effects of cannabis use, this center will be the first in the UC system to explore other dimensions of cannabis growth, university officials said.