Patients, entrepreneurs, and media (many of whom who have lack a background in the sciences) have taken a recent interest in Cannabis. But, these people cannot effectively work with or understand the plant/its preparations/what it does unless they begin to learn and understand the science of Cannabis. Since the cannabis industry still consists largely of people treating themselves, it is up to individuals to learn the science of the plant and in turn, understand science, in general.
The ganja from @donald.porter's #loveforhive video at 50x magnification.
Scientific rhetoric is a language unto itself. Thus, people who left high school and college thinking they'd never have to understand ligand-receptor complexes, signaling cascades, lipid-soluble solutions/preparations, why the pH of a soil or its VEC is important to the growth of a plant are having to learn all of these things and much more because they are often times preparing their own medicine, building/investing in a company built on these foundations, speaking about the benefits of Cannabis to the public (having come from an unscientific background and having to learn the science in order to speak about it efficaciously), or trying to start their own laboratory not understanding the difficulty of dealing with brownie mix matrices, etc.
Vegan Caramel in Oregon, USA
All of the people who desire to take part in the discussion surrounding Cannabis are being forced to learn the language of science. And, all of this at a time when the lack of scientific literacy is being used to highjack people’s innate liberties, like breathing fresh air and hugging people, when politicians are co-opting scientific rhetoric to misconstrue scientific data, with flat Earthers abound, and when media sources are being questioned even regarding their general credibility. Yet, scientific understanding is prevailing regarding the discourse surrounding this plant.
This plant is once again bringing science to the forefront. Why? Why is Cannabis more effective at this than the demonstrable consequences of industry of all kinds affecting environmental ecology globally? Probably because its impact is more immediately tangible to all of those people who are learning about it, but I can only assume. The point is: Science and the principles of science are necessary to understand in order to engage in the discussion surrounding this Herb -- and more and more people are getting involved in the discussion. Hence, scientific interest and understanding is growing concomitantly with the growth of the industry surrounding Cannabis; something of which I think our planet is in dire need not only because authority figures lend some credence to scientific data, but moreover, should more people understand the science of Cannabis and entheogens, more people will begin to question the validity of the restrictions surrounding their cultivation, processing, distribution, and consumption.
Purple cannabis at high resolution (also ±50x) missing the capitate trichome heads, possibly due to being processed for hash.
That conclusion is drawn because should the public become aware that one can overdose on water, the scary-sounding dihydrogen monoxide, but cannot on Cannabis, they may realize they’ve been duped. So, coincident with the cannabis and psychedelic renaissance, we see the revival of desire and motivation to understand STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) topics. Thus, the legalisation of Cannabis and the psychedelic renaissance will hopefully coincide with increasing scientific literacy.