How to Profit from the U.S.-U.K. Marijuana “Research Gap”

Legal marijuana flat-Earthers, like U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, have tried many methods to discredit breakthroughs in medical cannabis, which is now legal in 28 states.

This is of course all despite thousands of documented positive cases where marijuana helped sufferers cope with afflictions like cancer, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy.

But, as you'll see, these efforts at discrediting cannabis stop at the U.S. border. Several other countries, especially the United Kingdom, have created a far more favorable climate for cannabis research and innovation.

Don't get me wrong - I'm extremely bullish on the future state of American public cannabis research and its potential to bring new products to a huge market, largely because the momentum for marijuana is all but totally unstoppable here. That's going to be huge for the already surging U.S. market.

But the stock I'm about to show you is set to soar (again) right now...

U.S. Public Marijuana Research Faces an Uphill Battle

Why Weed?

I've spent more than 34 years covering the technology sector from Silicon Valley. I've watched it grow from a niche market in fancy gadgets to an indispensable, unstoppable global force worth trillions of dollars today.

Relentless innovation is directly responsible for most of that incredible growth.

Here's the thing... I see the exact same forces hard at work in the emerging cannabis market today. I couldn't be more excited about the innovation and extreme profit potential in this new market, so I've shared 30 of the best marijuana stock recommendations with my Nova-X Report readers.

You can learn how to get my cannabis sector picks right here.

Legal cannabis opponents sought for years to discredit studies from groups perceived, sometimes unfairly, as pro-marijuana advocates or supported by businesses with a stake in the industry.

More recently, anti-weed crusaders have been trying to downplay findings within academic research projects greenlighted by the federal government, calling them "unproven" or "inconsistent."

You see, many domestic researchers are working with a deck stacked against them.

Over the last week, media sources like The Washington Post and PBS extensively outlined complaints from researchers analyzing marijuana's potential medical effects.

For one, the government continues to list marijuana as a Schedule I drug, along with heroin and cocaine. That has stymied involvement from test subjects, many of whom remain fearful of prosecution.

The U.S. studies that are up and running, like completed ones of the past, often suffer from a quality problem - not of the researchers but of the product itself.

A Washington Post article now making the rounds shows the marijuana used in domestic research is almost always significantly poorer in quality than what is produced by the best legal growers in North America. Several of those growers are analyzed among the 30 stocks included in The Roadmap to Marijuana Millions, which I released last September. Many of those shares have already paid triple-digit gains.

But the federal government mandates researchers, like those working at the University of Mississippi, use government-grown weed. And of course, like many pursuits, cannabis growing is not the federal government's forte.

Flat out, it is inferior product to commercially grown marijuana in so many ways: The chemical potency is significantly less, the consistency is dryer, the smell is weaker, and the government doesn't even test for common contaminants like mold, yeast, or elevated pesticide levels.

It's like the old computer science adage: garbage in, garbage out. It's nearly impossible to get highly credible and consistent results with that kind of halfhearted government commitment to the research material.

As I said earlier, the situation in other countries, like the United Kingdom, is far, far better. And that's good news for the future of weed investing.

The British Are Coming... and They're Bringing Serious Money

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One of the world's most prestigious colleges, bankrolled by London venture capitalists, aims to eliminate these creditability concerns.

Oxford University announced this week that it has launched a £10 million ($12.4 million) research program to study cannabinoid-based therapies for acute and chronic health conditions. Free of U.S. government handcuffs, this study is going to be an absolute game-changer for those who still have reservations about medical marijuana use.

"Cannabinoid research has started to produce exciting biological discoveries and this research program is a timely opportunity to increase our understanding of the role of cannabinoids in health and disease," said Ahmed Ahmed, professor of gynecological oncology at Oxford. "This field holds great promise for developing novel therapeutic opportunities for cancer patients [and others]."

The research could position the UK at the forefront of one of the fastest-growing industries in the world right now.

It will also help fuel positive sentiment in parts of the United States still clinging to anti-marijuana stances.

Oxford and Kingsley will host the first International Cannabinoid Biomedicine Conference late this year.

Mind you, results will take time to produce. However, marijuana opponents will undoubtedly find it daunting to call the credibility of research from Oxford into question without looking foolish themselves.

I mention the yawning gap between the quality of research in Britain and the United States because there's a direct way to play the situation unfolding across the Atlantic.

It's already dealt out 1,261% in steady gains, too, and I don't see that stopping anytime soon. In fact, the revolution in UK research could even catalyze a fresh round of profits.

This Company Blazed a Trail in UK Cannabis Research

GW Pharmaceuticals Plc. (Nasdaq ADR: GWPH) was the very first biotech company anywhere to isolate, patent, market, and secure approval for a cannabinoid-based therapy for a recognized ailment, multiple sclerosis (MS). It's a debilitating disease in which the myelin sheaths covering nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord become damaged.

GW's Sativex (nabixmols) nasal spray is a revolutionary, very well tolerated treatment for a whole host of MS symptoms, including neuropathic pain, spasticity, and overactive bladder.

Now, one of the reasons GW was able to bring this drug to market, and deliver these staggering profits to shareholders, is actually a key difference between the restrictive American and relatively open British approaches to cannabis.

As I said, U.S. researchers generally have to obtain their plants, often of low quality, from the government. But in the UK, the Home Office and Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approves cultivation licenses so that in very controlled, fully accountable circumstances, researchers can grow their own top-flight marijuana. They grow plants that suit their own particular research needs.

And GW was one of the first companies to obtain a Home Office/MHRA cultivation license, in 1998. The way things are in the United States today, a public-private accommodation like that is all but inconceivable - for now.

Sales of Sativex and the "fullness" of GW's pipeline were enough for me to recommend this stock back in 2013, and it's returned an eye-watering 1,261% since then.

GW's not resting on its laurels - or buds, as the case may be. In addition to Sativex, this company has four other cannabis-derived therapies in varying stages of testing and approval. Furthest along, at phase 3, is Epidiolex, a prospective treatment of Dravet syndrome, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, tuberculosis sclerosis, and infantile spasms.

When this GW secures approval for its latest "marijuana miracle," shareholders could be in for a whole new wave of quadruple-digit gains.

Michael makes sure every one of his Nova-X Report readers gets a copy of his "weed investors' bible," The Roadmap to Marijuana Millions. It lists all 30 of his favorite cannabis stocks, and how to play them. Click here to learn how to get your copy.

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About the Author

Michael A. Robinson is a 36-year Silicon Valley veteran and one of the top tech and biotech financial analysts working today. That's because, as a consultant, senior adviser, and board member for Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Michael enjoys privileged access to pioneering CEOs, scientists, and high-profile players. And he brings this entire world of Silicon Valley "insiders" right to you...

  • He was one of five people involved in early meetings for the $160 billion "cloud" computing phenomenon.
  • He was there as Lee Iacocca and Roger Smith, the CEOs of Chrysler and GM, led the robotics revolution that saved the U.S. automotive industry.
  • As cyber-security was becoming a focus of national security, Michael was with Dave DeWalt, the CEO of McAfee, right before Intel acquired his company for $7.8 billion.

This all means the entire world is constantly seeking Michael's insight.

In addition to being a regular guest and panelist on CNBC and Fox Business, he is also a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and reporter. His first book Overdrawn: The Bailout of American Savings warned people about the coming financial collapse - years before the word "bailout" became a household word.

Silicon Valley defense publications vie for his analysis. He's worked for Defense Media Network and Signal Magazine, as well as The New York Times, American Enterprise, and The Wall Street Journal.

And even with decades of experience, Michael believes there has never been a moment in time quite like this.

Right now, medical breakthroughs that once took years to develop are moving at a record speed. And that means we are going to see highly lucrative biotech investment opportunities come in fast and furious.

To help you navigate the historic opportunity in biotech, Michael launched the Bio-Tech Profit Alliance.

His other publications include: Strategic Tech Investor, The Nova-X Report, Bio-Technology Profit Alliance and Nexus-9 Network.

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