The Feds Are Hiring A Contractor To Roll Hundreds Of Thousands Of ‘Marijuana Cigarettes’ For Research

A new request for proposals from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is looking for contractors capable of rolling joints—lots and lots of joints—for federally approved research purposes.

NIDA makes available to researchers “marijuana cigarettes” and certain other controlled substances, the agency says in the new document, pointing out that demand “grew significantly” in recent years, in large part due to “rapidly expanding research efforts in the area of drug abuse.”

Now officials are looking for providers who can manufacture cannabis joints in bulk as well as prepare, “preferably by hand-rolling, a small batch of marijuana cigarettes within a range of specified delta-9-THC, or cannabidiol (CBD), or both” as required by NIDA.

While it’s not yet clear what specific products the agency will need to acquire, the 141-page document provides “sample task orders” that include manufacturing tens of thousands of standardized joints and smaller batches of hand-rolled joints.

THC and CBD levels in the sample orders are notably below what they are in most commercially available products in state-legal cannabis markets, with “low” THC levels ranging from 1.0 percent to 2.5 percent and “high” levels ranging from 3.5 percent to 5 percent THC. By comparison, many adult-use products have total THC levels of 20 percent or more.

In addition to production, the request also lays out other necessary tasks, such as evaluating the strength of the marijuana cigarettes and performing quality control on new and previously manufactured joints “on a regular basis to maintain their integrity.”

Another sample task explains that a contractor might be expected to monitor products stored at various temperatures over time, for example, to monitor chemical stability and integrity.

The NIDA request isn’t exclusive to marijuana and includes a range of drugs the agency is trying to get its hands on. Other substances mentioned in the document include nicotine research cigarettes, morphine, methadone, naltrexone and “other compounds of interest to the drug abuse research community.

A separate sample task order additionally refers to contractors acquiring “hard to find controlled and uncontrolled drugs/research chemical compounds for the NIDA drug supply inventory, including import from international sources as required by NIDA.”

NIDA, which earlier this year cited its various marijuana and psychedelics research efforts in an effort to justify its congressional funding, has also been working to study peripheral cannabis-related matters, like how to improve product warning labels to better inform people about the risks of marijuana use.

In 2022, NIDA additionally created its so-called “cannabis registry” meant to “capture data on cannabis product use and health outcomes, and conduct testing on products associated with adverse outcomes.”

Federal agencies have also been calling for increased production of controlled substances like cannabis and psychedelics amid heightened demand from researchers. Just last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released new quotas for the production of Schedule I and Schedule II controlled substances for research purposes—calling for an increase in the manufacturing of the psychedelics ibogaine, psilocybin and psilocyn.

DEA also proposed dramatic increases in cannabis and psychedelics production in 2022, similarly citing research demands.

NIDA, for its part, sent out a separate request for proposals in 2022 seeking a contractor to grow, harvest and analyze millions of grams of marijuana for research purposes. The agency said it was seeking manufacturers capable of cultivating, testing and rolling joints of about four million grams of cannabis over a five-year period.

That same year, NIDA opened the doors to authorizing additional cannabis growers for research purposes. The agency for decades worked with the same single marijuana farm at the University of Mississippi, and scientists had long been critical about the quality of the cannabis and extracts produced at the facility.

In 2019, meanwhile, NIDA sent out a separate request soliciting help to “acquire, develop and produce” joints for research purposes.

Separately, NIDA Director Nora Volkow argued in a blog post published last week that commercial interests are driving up rates of drug use and substance misuse disorder.

While she’s long expressed concerns about criminalization as a policy, Volkow raised a number of complaints with the commercial marijuana market that’s expanded as a result of the state-level legalization movement. And although lawmakers and health agencies have seen progress in combating the use of other legal substances, such as tobacco, she said the marijuana industry has “presented new opportunities for commercial interests to drive drug consumption across all ages and demographics.”

Volkow has previously recognized that data shows rates of youth marijuana use have remained stable despite her concerns about the potential impact of legalization, evidenced by multiple federally funded surveys, for example.

Volkow has maintained her stance that criminalization is not an effective approach to drug control, however. She’s previously said that the drug war “created a structurally racist system” in which Black people are treated “worse” than others. And she’s called on the government to move “away from criminalization,” arguing that the country’s failure to offer drug treatment to incarcerated people only exacerbates the ongoing opioid overdose crisis.

Outside government channels, some other clients have also offered to pay people for rolling joints–for example Snoop Dogg, who said several years ago that he pays someone $40,000 to $50,000 per year to have blunts readily available.

Comedian Seth Rogen confirmed at the time that he had watched the employee in actions during sessions with Snoop. “He knows how to gauge the look on somebody’s face when it seems like they want a blunt, and if they do, he gives you one,” Rogen said.

“Timing. That motherfucker’s timing is impeccable,” added Snoop.

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