Robert C. Clarke | |
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| Born | Robert Connell Clarke 1953 California, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1977–present |
| Part of a series on |
| Cannabis |
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Robert Connell Clarke (born 1953) is an American agronomist and ethnobotanist, specialized in the study of the cannabis plant. [1]
He has often been credited for having taken part in many developments of the licit hemp and cannabis sectors in the United States [2] [3] and the Netherlands [4] [5] since the 1980s. [6]
Clarke graduated in 1977 from the University of California Santa Cruz. [7]
In the 1980s, he took part as a breeder in the creation of the cannabis seed bank Cultivators Choice together with David P. Watson [8] with whom he later co-funded Hortapharm B.V., [9] a Dutch cannabis research and development business licensed from 1994-1997 to research medicinal cannabis. [10]
He was once manager of the International Hemp Association, a now-defunct organization based in Amsterdam. [1] He has written for High Times under the pseudonym R. Connoisseur. [11]
In 1977, shortly after graduating, Clarke self-published his undergraduate research dissertation [7] under the title "The botany and ecology of Cannabis." [12] He would spend the following years continuing to research and publish on the topics of evolutionary and botanical history of the plant genus.
Some of Clarke's key publications include:
Some of his publications received an important echo. According to Clarke, "Marijuana Botany played an unforeseen role in spreading plant science to the public." [7] Clarke also published numerous peer-review articles that received less public attention. [16]
Clarke is known for having studied a number of local varieties, cultures, and agricultural practices linked to cannabis in remote regions of the world in Southeast Asia, such as Nepal, China, Vietnam, but also in other areas of Africa, [17] Europe, the Americas, [5] and Oceania. [18] In 2018, a promotional documentary was released by a Canadian hemp company documented Robert Clarke's journey through Turkey exploring local traditional hemp cultures. [19]
In relation to this field work, Clarke has participated in the development of methodological tools for cannabis research. [20] He has also been associated with the discovery and identification of archaeological remains of cannabis in the Israeli Tel Arad site. [21] [22]
Hashish, commonly shortened to hash, is an oleoresin made by compressing and processing parts of the cannabis plant, typically focusing on flowering buds containing the most trichomes. It is consumed as a psychoactive drug by smoking, typically in a pipe, bong, vaporizer or joint, or via oral ingestion. Hashish has a long history of usage in countries such as Afghanistan, Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Iran, and Lebanon. Hashish consumption is also popular in Europe. In the United States, dried flowers or concentrates are more popular, though hash has seen a rise in popularity following changes in law. Like many recreational drugs, multiple synonyms and alternative names for hashish exist, and vary greatly depending on the country and native language.
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: Cannabis sativa, C. indica, and C. ruderalis. Alternatively, C. ruderalis may be included within C. sativa, all three may be treated as subspecies of C. sativa, or C. sativa may be accepted as a single undivided species. The genus is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from Asia.
Cannabis sativa is an annual herbaceous flowering plant. The species was first classified by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The specific epithet sativa means 'cultivated'. Indigenous to Eastern Asia, the plant is now of cosmopolitan distribution due to widespread cultivation. It has been cultivated throughout recorded history and used as a source of industrial fiber, seed oil, food, and medicine. It is also used as a recreation drug and for religious and spiritual purposes.
Cultivation of cannabis is the production of cannabis infructescences. Cultivation techniques for other purposes differ.
Cannabis indica is an annual plant species in the family Cannabaceae indigenous to the Hindu Kush mountains of Southern Asia. The plant produces large amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), with total cannabinoid levels being as high as 53.7%. It is now widely grown in China, India, Nepal, Thailand, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, as well as southern and western Africa, and is cultivated for purposes including hashish in India. The high concentrations of THC or THCV provide euphoric effects making it popular for use both as a recreational drug, alternative medicine, and a clinical research drug.
Cannabis ruderalis is a variety, subspecies, or species of Cannabis native to Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. It contains a relatively low quantity of psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Some scholars accept C. ruderalis as its own species due to its unique traits and phenotypes which distinguish it from C. indica and C. sativa; others debate whether ruderalis is a subdivision under C. sativa.
Cannabis flower essential oil, also known as hemp essential oil, is an essential oil obtained by steam distillation from the flowers, panicles, stem, and upper leaves of the hemp plant. Hemp essential oil is distinct from hemp seed oil and hash oil: the former is a vegetable oil that is cold-pressed from the seeds of low-THC varieties of hemp, the latter is a THC-rich extract of dried female hemp flowers (marijuana) or resin (hashish).
Hash oil or cannabis oil is an oleoresin obtained by the extraction of cannabis or hashish. It is a cannabis concentrate containing many of its resins and terpenes – in particular, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), and other cannabinoids. Hash oil is usually consumed by smoking, vaporizing or eating. Preparations of hash oil may be solid or semi-liquid colloids depending on both production method and temperature and are usually identified by their appearance or characteristics. Color most commonly ranges from transparent golden or light brown, to tan or black. There are various extraction methods, most involving a solvent, such as butane or ethanol.
Cannabis in Portugal is decriminalized, as a result of the decriminalization of all drugs in Portugal in 2001. Medical use of cannabis was legalized in 2018.
Although Cannabis use is illegal in Egypt, it is often used privately by many. Law enforcements are often particularly lax when it comes to cannabis smokers, and its use is a part of the common culture for many people in Egypt. However, Large-scale smuggling of cannabis is punishable by death, while penalties for possessing even small amounts can also be severe. Despite this, these laws are not enforced in many parts of Egypt, where cannabis is often consumed openly in local cafes.
Cannabis in Romania is illegal for recreational and for medical use. Although it was technically legalized for medical use in 2013, it has not been eliminated from the Table I of High Risk Drugs, and as such its use is prohibited.
Cannabis has been cultivated in Japan since the Jōmon period of Japanese prehistory approximately six to ten thousand years ago. As one of the earliest cultivated plants in Japan, cannabis hemp was an important source of plant fiber used to produce clothing, cordage, and items for Shinto rituals, among numerous other uses. Hemp remained ubiquitous for its fabric and as a foodstuff for much of Japanese history, before cotton emerged as the country's primary fiber crop amid industrialization during the Meiji period. Following the conclusion of the Second World War and subsequent occupation of Japan, a prohibition on cannabis possession and production was enacted with the passing of the Cannabis Control Law.
The list includes and details significant events that occurred in the global history of national-level implementations of, or changes made to, laws surrounding the use, sale, or production of the psychoactive drug cannabis.
Cannabis is illegal in China except for industrial purposes (hemp) and some forms of medicine. Historically, cannabis has been used in China for fiber, seeds, as a traditional medicine, as well as for some ritual purposes within Taoism.
Cannabis has served as an entheogen—a chemical substance used in religious or spiritual contexts—in the Indian subcontinent since the Vedic period dating back to approximately 1500 BCE, but perhaps as far back as 2000 BCE. It was introduced to the New World by the Spaniards in 1530-1545.
The history of cannabis and its usage by humans dates back to at least the third millennium BC in written history, and possibly as far back as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B based on archaeological evidence. For millennia, the plant has been valued for its use for fiber and rope, as food and medicine, and for its psychoactive properties for religious and recreational use.
Hemp has been grown continuously in France for hundreds of years or longer for use as a textile, paper, animal bedding, and for nautical applications.
Tochigishiro is a cultivar of hemp grown in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. It meets international standards of non-narcotic agricultural hemp at about 0.2% THC, reckoned "remarkably low" by Sensi Seeds. It was grown in the early 20th century at Arlington Experimental Farm near the United States capital. The modern variety was developed beginning in 1973 by Kyushu University professor of pharmacy Itsuo Nishioka from seeds "found in southern Japan", and completed c. 1982 by the Tochigi prefectural government at Tochigi Agricultural Experiment Station in Tochigi-shi. According to a National Institute of Mental Health-affiliated researcher, the strain is missing the enzyme tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase that makes most Cannabis capable of producing THC. It is the most widely grown cultivar in Japan in the 21st century, being exempt from prohibition under the Cannabis Control Law, due to its low levels of psychoactive chemicals. Approximately 90% of the hemp grown in Japan is the Tochigishiro variety.
David Paul Watson, better known as Sam the Skunkman or Sam Selezny, is an American breeder, who is credited with the development of some of the most popular modern cannabis varieties such as Skunk#1, Haze, and Amnesia, and the apparition of high-cannabidiol varieties.
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