Origins Council Participates in Legacy Cannabis Genetics Research Project

Grassroots Marketing speaks with Genine Coleman, the Founder and Executive Director of Origins Council about a grant that will support a 2-year scientific study entitled: “Legacy Cannabis Genetics: People and Their Plants, a Community-Driven Study”. A group of academic researchers, scientists, and community based organizations have joined forces to develop a multidisciplinary, community-based participatory research (CBPR) study that will identify, document, and help to preserve the history, value, and diversity of California’s legacy cannabis genetics and the communities that steward them. This will be the first such study of its kind, and is intended to establish a replicable research model for underserved cannabis producing communities globally. Community-based participatory research is a partnership approach to research that equitably involves community members, organizational representatives, and academic researchers in all aspects of the research process. The community organizations partnered on this study are Origins Council (OC), a California nonprofit public policy and research institute serving California’s historic rural cannabis farming regions, and the Cannabis Equity Policy Council (CEPC), a statewide equity advocacy organization representing the interests of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in urban communities.