Cultivating Cannabis In Space

Many a stoner have laid on the ground, stared up into the cosmos, and indulged one of several profound thoughts common to all humanity. But have you ever wondered if weed has been to space, or if anyone has gotten high during space travel? What might the future hold for interstellar travel and weed?

Interestingly, the latter question even NASA is asking—and acting on. Although unfortunately, as far as we know, nobody has been stoned in space thus far.

Is it possible to grow plants in space?

It certainly is. NASA currently has an ongoing project called “Veggie”, in which a variety of plants are being grown on the international space station (ISS). So far, though not enough to sustain the astronauts living there, they have successfully produced edible plants.

In 2019, hemp cultures were sent to the ISS to ascertain how they might handle microgravity conditions. But more on this shortly.

While growing plants in space remains very much in the experimental phase, it is considered a necessary step if humans are to delve into deep space or go to other planets. Currently, people on space missions are resupplied with food regularly from Earth, allowing them to be sustained. But if people are to venture further into the cosmos, then they will need to be aboard self-sustaining vessels.

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Cultivating space cannabis

Cannabis has actually been to space, though a crop has never been grown through to maturity. Since 2018, a company called Space Tango has been working in partnership with NASA to conduct experiments with cannabis on the ISS. So far, they have sent cultures and seeds to the space station to investigate how they develop. However, these plants have been hemp, with high amounts of CBD and minimal THC, so as far as we know, there has yet to be any high-grade grown off-world.

What about the lack of gravity?

One of the main reasons these experiments have been conducted is to see how cannabis, and other plants, cope in low-gravity situations. Plants, like all of us, have evolved in a way that allows them to thrive under the pull of Earth’s gravity. This “stress” is important for their development.

Therefore, investigations so far have centred around how they cope in a microgravity environment, specifically looking at what effects this has on gene expression. By understanding this in more detail, researchers hope to better understand how plants grow on Earth, and how we might be able to modify them to grow successfully in space in the future.

Can you smoke weed in space?

Unsurprisingly, space-faring vessels are tightly controlled environments, and the consumption of cannabis (and other psychoactive substances) is banned. The thinking behind this is straightforward and fairly sensible: a stoned person would struggle to deal with an emergency in space.

Even the most mundane tasks can be a struggle when baked, so dealing with an air leak, fire, or some other celestial problem might be a little overwhelming. Nevertheless, nobody can deny that doing a space walk or looking back down at Earth from above would be pretty wild if you were high. That being said, it’s probably pretty wild anyway!

Has cannabis been to space before?

Cannabis has been to space… kind of. It depends on how much we stretch our definition of “space”. Generally, space is considered to begin around 100km above Earth’s surface. So far, cannabis has made it to the grand height of 35km above the Earth’s surface, aboard a 10m in diameter helium balloon, before plummeting back down to the ground.

And why did weed make it this high? No, it was not some monster sativa’s main cola. It was what can only be described as a publicity stunt by Herban Planet and their subsidiary “Space Weed Bro”. The kilogram of weed that was launched into the upper stratosphere then went on sale in their dispensary in Arizona—and you can imagine all the different plays on words relating to the word “high”.

Previously, in 2017, a company called “Sent Into Space” sent a joint up to 32km as part of Viceland TV’s “Weed Week” celebrations.

The intersection of space and weed has also been the subject of a fair share of hoaxes too. One particularly notable one depicted Commander Chris Hadfield aboard the ISS holding a very large baggy full of weed, with his finger to his lips. This quickly spread, but alas transpired to be an edited photo, the original of which showed him holding a large bag of Easter eggs. Far less exciting.

See you in space?

Weed and space have made first contact, but there’s still plenty of exploration to be done! On a more serious note, some are speculating that if and when space exploration becomes more common, with space stations and craft becoming more automated, safe, and staffed, this will give people time for recreation. And even some current astronauts think this recreation could involve the consumption of cannabis. We can expect that smoking probably won’t be permitted, but who knows what kind of space-age vaporizers might be invented to rise to the challenge!

But for now, it seems we’re stuck with publicity stunts and some early experiments on the ISS. But who knows what the future may bring? If you fancy pondering these possibilities in your own elevated state of mind, check out the Zamnesia store to see what you can find.

Max Sargent

Max has been writing for over a decade, and has come into cannabis and psychedelic journalism in the last few years. Writing for companies such as Zamnesia, Royal Queen Seeds, Cannaconnection, Gorilla Seeds, MushMagic and more, he has experience in a broad spectrum of the industry.

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