On Security

One of the most impressive aspects of the lab is the sophisticated system of security. I definitely won't be going too into details, since I'm sure even the vague details that I know are enough to get me into trouble with the lab and the DEA.

However, I'll talk about the general idea of security, and what it means for the research lab of an illegal drug. Marijuana is a schedule I drug, as part of the five schedule system that rates drugs based on their accepted medical use and abuse potential. Obviously many people contest both aspects of this categorization: marijuana has been shown to have very clear medical use, and the abuse potential has been shown to be much lower than previously believed. With the recent spotlight on reviewing the illegality of marijuana (and almost all other drugs of abuse), this will inevitably change in the coming years, a change that will affect the research of these drugs significantly.

However, in the meantime, the research center and the DEA have to work extremely carefully together to make sure that this research is within the bounds of the lawful activity. In order to make an exception for the researchers, the DEA must ensure that the drugs being delivered to the facility are only being used for research. This means absolute measurements on marijuana used, as well as an extremely powerful safe, with multiple levels of security. The center is also subject to random DEA inspections (one of which I have been able to witness). 

Clearly this is a very stressful topic of all of those who work in the lab. We must make sure that we can maintain our privilege of studying an illegal, so all must be done to convince the government that this exception is for research, and research only.