But it also yields marijuana, a drug that makes depraved creatures of its addicts. In short, it is attempting to breed a strain of hemp of good fiber quality, but containing a negligible amount of the baneful marijuana drug. For aid, it has enlisted the expert services of Dr. H.E. Warmke, at the Cold Springs Harbor, N.Y., experimental station of the Carnegie Institution. First of Dr. Warmke's problems has been to develop a method of determining reliably the amount of marijuana in individual hemp plants. Only a little more time will be needed to learn whether he can establish a pure, self-perpetuating race of them.
Fish serve as test animals for determining the potency of marijuana extracts.
But when a fish is placed in a strong solution of marijuana extract, it soon is most thoroughly dead, and such an observation cannot be disputed. Then he can record the number of fish killed and get a definite measure of the poison in the plant. First encouraging results show a great range in the amount of marijuana in different hemp plants. Some prove to be one eighth as poisonous as others an excellent starting point for a plant breeder. And actual breeding has definitely resulted in improvement.