Kamera Griffn
For nearly 50 years, Ole Miss’ prestigious marijuana research program has overshadowed the other medicinal plant research at the university.
While there are no marijuana plants at the Maynard W. Quimby Medicinal Plant Garden, lead horticulturist Ed Lowe said he is excited about what’s growing behind its gates.
“All of our plants have something unique about them, and I like that,” Lowe said. “We can continuously learn more about them.”
The Medicinal Plant Garden has more than 1,000 seed bank entries in its new location. In 2011, the garden moved just down the road to a newly built Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design “Silver” Certified facility. The LEED program recognizes energy efficient buildings nationally, and the garden was one of the university’s first LEED certified buildings, all according to Lowe.
Ole Miss was the only institution in the country with a federal license to grow and study marijuana. The fenced-in compound next door now holds a population of bitter gourds and stevia. Additionally, university students are learning how to promote sustainable living with cafeteria leftovers.
Lowe worked with the marijuana research project for three years before the university stopped harvesting the crop in the medicinal garden in 2007. Lowe manages the greenhouse and fields at the Medicinal Plant Garden, where hundreds of different plant species grow under his watch.
Researchers are studying the newer plants to find out which of their chemicals could be used medicinally, which was the driving force behind the school’s marijuana research as well.
Photo by Kamera Griffin
“We’ve been very lucky here,” Lowe said. “We harvested all of the trees that were on the land before we came, and we also harvest rainwater.”
The school’s Coy W. Waller Laboratory Complex on the campus of the University of Mississippi is the only legal marijuana farm and production facility in the United States. The plants are studied for the chemicals in medical pot to help, which treat epileptic seizures.
Lowe said marijuana could not be grown with the rest of the plants in the medicinal garden, so it is researching the possible health benefits of bitter gourds and stevia.
Stevia, an herbal sugar substitute, is being studied at multiple universities, including North Carolina State University and Cornell University, for its blood sugar effects among other uses. Also, bitter gourd is being studied at universities to improve cancer treatment.
Lowe and his team have been working with Green Fund on a large-scale composting program. Student interns and garden staff use leftover food from all over campus to make compost behind the Medicinal Plant Garden’s greenhouses.
Junior integrated marketing communications major Angie Jordan is a student intern with the compost program. She works with a four-person team to make compost they later donate to the university’s garden club or sell to locals.
“We are reducing harmful methane gas emissions from landfills,” Jordan said. “But also it is important to educate students here about different sustainable practices.”
In addition to assisting Green Fund’s compost program, the Medicinal Plant Garden also runs a garden through Oxford Community Garden.
Photo by Kamera Griffin
Lowe said his team grabs plants like cucumbers that grow wildly around Oxford and move them to the community garden. He said Ole Miss students come by and help with the garden all the time.
The university’s marijuana research monopoly supplies the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Drug Supply Program. NIDA sends Ole Miss’ marijuana to researchers across the country to study their negative and beneficial effects.
Ole Miss’ $68.7 million contract was renewed with NIDA, which solidifies the university as one of the leading weed suppliers in America.
Even with all of the Medicinal Plant Garden’s new programs, Lowe says he still has trouble separating his office from the marijuana growing stories.
“Everywhere I go, they think it’s marijuana,” Lowe said. “When I tell them what we do, they look at me like, ‘huh’?”
