Hemp Growing

Furthermore, Hollands et al and Gregory et al conducted comparative analyses of schools implementing RJP programs and found that at schools with no restorative programs in place, there were higher suspension rates over time. Similarly, when comparing the Nevada County sites to the four schools in the neighboring county, there was a drastic difference in the number of overall and drug-related suspension counts, with Nevada County schools reporting lower numbers. To our knowledge, data on drug-related suspensions has not been examined in previous restorative program evaluations. Therefore, this study provides insight into the potential impacts of an RJP program with substance use components in addressing drug-related disciplinary incidents in particular. As reported, Nevada County sites had slightly higher drug-related suspensions in the 2018-19 academic year, which corresponds with the uptick in the number of relative incidents at the state level . Prior to the launch of RAYS, drug-related suspensions were higher at Nevada County sites in relation to comparable sites; however, similar to the number in overall suspensions, there was a sharp decrease in the academic year following the launch of RAYS in August 2021. In contrast, at the comparable school sites the number of drug-related suspensions nearly doubled during the 2021-22 academic year in relation to 2018- 19. Although these shifts may not be directly related to the implementation of RAYS, they may be indicators of larger program impacts on the discipline landscape at the school level. As is evident by pretest and posttest data, the majority of students who exited RAYS reported decreased use behaviors or frequency of use. As such, these students may no longer be using, or if they are, they are choosing not to use at school where they are most likely to be caught. At the systemic level, plants rack administrators at the Nevada sites may be increasing the number of referrals they are making to RAYS from drug-related incidents.

If so, this may imply an increased awareness of the RAYS program amongst school district and site staff which is crucial for program sustainability and continuous support. This increased awareness may be supported by the high number of school staff and administrator exposures to information presentations conducted by the RAYS program coordinators . Past RJP evaluation studies have cited the negative impacts of punitive measures, particularly the counter intuitive effects they have in increasing the number of disciplinary incidents and repeat offenses. It is evident from Nevada’s suspension data that in the absence of the RJP program, there was a higher number of overall and drug-related suspensions compared to when after RAYS was launched. Furthermore, authors have noted the positive effects RJP programs in improving academic achievement among participant. Although this study did not collect student academic data, it may be interesting to examine the potential impacts of RAYS in increasing academic success as students who are diverted to the program tend to stay in school rather than being sent home. Studies have also found that RJPs decrease the suspension gap between racial/ethnic minorities and non-Hispanic White students. Such gaps were not noted within the Nevada County sites implementing RAYS as the majority of enrollees self-identified as non-Hispanic White, representative of the student body in Nevada County . One of the objectives set by NCSOS was a reduction in drug-related suspensions by 20% by April 2024 . To calculate drug-related suspension rates, the total number of drugrelated suspensions was divided by the cumulative enrollment for the 2018-19 and 2021-22 academic years . Calculations revealed that in 2018-19, 6.03% of all students at the four sites were suspended for a drug-related reason, whereas in 2021-22, 2.17% of students were suspended.

Based on these raw calculations, there was an approximate 64.06% reduction in drug-related suspensions among the entire population at the four sites. This supports the conclusion that RAYS is on track to meet the 20% reduction goal by April 2024 if this decreasing trend continues. This decrease in drug-related suspension rates follows similar patterns with overall suspensions seen in other studies examining the effects of RJPs on disciplinary rates over time. It is crucial to continue tracking drug-related suspensions to assess potential time-dependent effects of the RAYS program across the implementation period.The use of combustible tobacco products has significantly decreased with 2.2% of 8th, 4.2% of 10th, and 7.6% of 12th graders reporting past 30-day cigarette use in 2018. These rates have continued to drop to 0.8%, 1.7%, and 4.0% for each grade level, respectively, in 2022. Nationally, this particular group of adolescents reported a combined past 30-day cigarette use rate of 2.1%. In California, which is known for having some of the strictest anti-tobacco laws in the nation, only 1.2% of this population reported past 30-day cigarette use in 2021. Other combustible forms of tobacco have also been relatively low across the years with the prevalence of large cigars and little cigars/cigarillos remaining below 10% across the years, more recently below 2% for either product. Smokeless tobacco use has also remained on a steady decline with 3.4% of adolescents reporting past 30-day use in 2018 to 2.3% in 2021. Looking at California specifically, only 0.6% of adolescents said that they had used a smokeless tobacco product in the last 30 days in 2021. Nonetheless, previous research has noted that smokeless tobacco use remains high in niche populations, mainly among non-Hispanic White male individuals who reside in rural areas. These devices are used to vaporize nicotine-containing liquids and other chemical compounds, allowing for the inhalation of chemical vapors.

In 2018, 19.2% of school-aged adolescents reported having vaped in the last 30 days, increasing to 22.5% in 2019 followed by a slight decrease to 17.0% in 2022. In California specifically, 8.2% of school-aged adolescents reported past 30-day use of a vape product.7 These high use rates are often attributed to the various flavors available for vape “juices” which may be enticing to school-aged youth. Findings released from the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey reported that among the middle and high schoolers who used a vape in the last 30 days, approximately 85% used a flavored product with fruit and candy or sweet flavors being the most popular.10Despite its status as a Schedule I substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act, several states across the nation have implemented policies permitting medicinal and/or recreational use of cannabis products. Some states have even gone the extra step of decriminalizing marijuana possession and use in an effort to reform the criminal justice system’s procedures surrounding cannabis. Adolescent cannabis use in particular, which remains illegal for individuals under 21 years of age in California, has seen fluctuations across the years. Overall rates of past 30-day use of marijuana/hashish products among school-aged adolescents in the United States were at 14.6% in 2018, followed by a slight decrease to 11.0% in 2021, and is now at 12.3% as of 2022. 6 Past 30-day marijuana vaping, as a modality, has increased among this population from 5.7% in 2018, to 10.1% in 2021, and current rates standing at 9.6% as of 2022. Marijuana use rates in California, a state that legalized medicinal use in 1996 and recreational use in 2016, have increased among school-aged adolescents. During the 2019-2020 academic year, 31.2% of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in California reported ever-using cannabis products, plant growing trays with 15% reporting past 30-day use. The most commonly used modalities for marijuana use among students in California were smoking at 50.6% among current users, followed by vaping at 32.6%.7Current California Education Code stipulates that all suspensions and expulsions are warranted if a student commits a “violent crime, possesses/uses drugs or weapons, steals, bullies, hazes, behaves obscenely, threatens to cause physical harm, or damages school property”. The decision to suspend or expel a student who has committed a suspendable offense is at the discretion of the principal or district superintendent. Since the 1980’s, most policies and guidelines surrounding discipline in California’s schools have been punitive in nature, with zerotolerance approaches being the norm. However, a shift to more restorative disciplinary methods has been seen in various districts not only in California, but throughout the United States. For drug-related disciplinary policies in particular, California Education Code states that students may be suspended or expelled if they are caught in possession, using, selling, furnishing, or under the influence of any controlled substance under Division 10 of the California Health and Safety Code . Controlled substances listed under this code include any forms of opiates, opium derivatives, hallucinogenic substances , depressants, and other “hard” drugs . The current California Education Code also classifies possession or use of tobacco products or alcohol as a suspendable offense.

Nonetheless, a recent announcement from the California Department of Education instituted new guidelines for what may constitute a suspendable incident. Although policies for drug-related offenses remain in effect, guidelines for suspensions and expulsions for defiance related infractions have shifted. Students in grades K-8 can no longer be suspended for “willful defiance”, defined as being disruptive or acting in a way that defies authority. Research has found that punitive measures to address willful defiance have historically impacted students of color and sexual/gender minorities at disproportionate rates. State officials have emphasized that punitive measures such as suspension should be considered as a last resort, instead diverting students to necessary services and interventions as alternatives to suspension. These policies highlight a major transition from punitive measures which are more exclusionary in nature and tend to isolate students. The “alternative to suspension” approaches currently being proposed seek to improve behavioral and academic outcomes utilizing restorative justice and trauma-informed approaches. They also seek to provide individualized support in lieu of punitive discipline by providing additional academic, behavioral , and social support. The CDE has also encouraged schools to draw from existing mental health support and behavioral intervention strategies , an approach that some schools in California are already implementing. Recent studies have found positive impacts of these restorative practices on behavioral outcomes and suspension and expulsion rates, particularly for students of color – a subgroup of the student population that has been found to be disproportionately impacted by the negative effects of punitive measures. Overall student suspension rates have remained at steady rates across the years. In the 2011-12 academic year, the state-wide suspension rates were at 5.8%, steadily decreased to 3.6% in 2016-17, and were most recently reported at 3.2% as of the 2021-22 academic year. It is important to note that the 2018-19 academic year was the last full year of in-person instruction due to pandemic-related campus closures during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years. As such, suspension and expulsion data provided for the period during campus closures may not be reflective of the actual number of students that may have committed suspendable offenses during this time. Examination of drug-related suspensions in particular does not reveal any notable patterns. Nonetheless, as seen in Figure 1, a slight decrease in the total number of illicit drug related suspensions is evident between the 2014-15 and 2016-17 academic years, with a steady increase in 2017-18. The notable decrease in the 2020-21 academic year is reflective of the school closures and transition to remote learning between March 2020 and Fall 2021, during which the majority of students were not attending school in-person.One strategy for alternative-to-suspension programs is the incorporation of RJP approaches in disciplinary protocols. The philosophies embedded in RJPs are rooted in South Pacific and North American indigenous cultural values which emphasize the importance of community and interpersonal connectedness. Originally implemented in criminal justice systems, they are an alternative to punitive measures found to be successful in reducing repeat offenses and fostering reintegration for the offender. School systems in Australia began implementing RJPs in educational settings in the 1990’s with other nations following shortly thereafter, including the United States. RJP philosophies focus on “wound repair”, recognizing that entire communities are harmed when an individual commits an offense. Major components of RJPs tie in community cohesiveness, harm repair, and reintegration. In contrast to exclusionary discipline , RJPs bring stakeholders together for civil discussions in a “safe space”. Some critical components of RJPs that foster these “safe spaces” include restorative circles/restorative conferences, community-building circles, restorative conversations, and peer-to-peer mediations. 

Overexpressing the biosynthetic and regulatory genes of flavonoids can potentially increase their accumulation in C. sativa, though it is currently challenging to transform and propagate C. sativa plants. To this end, cell suspension and hairy root tissue cultures and heterologous expression systems have been developed for C. sativa, which can be utilized for the production of flavonoids and functional genomics of flavonoid metabolism. Adolescent illicit drug use is a top concern for school systems in the United States as early onset of use can have detrimental effects on academic performance and overall health outcomes. 1 Overall, adolescent alcohol and other drug use rates have steadily declined across the years. In 2011, 14.7% of 8th graders, 31.1% of 10th graders, and 40% of 12th graders reported last 12-month AOD use.2 Most recently in 2021, 10.2% of 8th graders, 18.7% of 10th graders, and 32% of 12th graders reported last 12-month AOD use.2 Despite these decreasing trends, it is crucial that schools and systems working closely with adolescents and pre-pubescent children remain vigilant in their substance use prevention and intervention efforts. The California Department of Education highlights the important role of schools in providing assistance programs for students to prevent or intervene on risky behaviors, like substance use. In an effort to address this, school systems have begun to implement alternative to suspension programs which is reflected in the expansion of restorative intervention programs to address disciplinary incidents. These programs have been found to be effective in reducing the number of incidents, improving school climate, and increasing academic success. Although the implementation of these programs is increasing, evaluative research to assess the effectiveness of such alternatives is limited. Furthermore, few if any of these programs, to our knowledge, provide substance use-specific services, weed drying room such as substance use and drug treatment and counseling, for students who have committed drug-related offenses.

The purpose of this project is to report findings from an intermediate evaluation of Nevada County’s Restorative Accountable Youth Solutions program. This evaluation seeks to assess potential program impacts on student AOD use behaviors, perceptions of AOD use, resource awareness, self-responsibility, and overall and drug related suspension counts at sites implementing the program. The focus will be on alcohol, vapes , and marijuana as the program being evaluated specifically addresses use of these substances in core educational and counseling intervention components. Findings from this evaluative report may be used to inform a formal evaluation of the RAYS program and contribute to limited research on school-based, restorative alternatives to suspension for drug related disciplinary incidents.Trends in alcohol use among adolescents in the United States have followed similar patterns to other substances; however, specific use behaviors, mainly binge drinking, have steadily increased in recent years.6 Among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders at the national level, 8.2%, 18.6%, and 30.2%, respectively, reported past 30-day alcohol use in 2018. 6 When asked about binge drinking behaviors, which the Monitoring the Future survey defines as having 5 or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks, 3.7% of 8th graders, 8.7% of 10th graders, and 13.8% of 12th graders reported binge drinking in 2018. 6 More recently, the rates for binge drinking were at 2.2%, 5.9%, and 12.6% for each respective grade level in 2022.  Nonetheless, the proportion of adolescents who reported past 30-day alcohol use has slightly decreased in recent years, while binge drinking has stabilized. Findings from the 2022 wave of the MTF revealed that 6.0%, 13.6%, and 28.4% of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, respectively, reported past 30-day alcohol use, with similar proportions of these age groups reported for previous MTF survey waves. 

The use of combustible tobacco products has significantly decreased with 2.2% of 8th, 4.2% of 10th, and 7.6% of 12th graders reporting past 30-day cigarette use in 2018. 2 These rates have continued to drop to 0.8%, 1.7%, and 4.0% for each grade level, respectively, in 2022.2 Nationally, this particular group of adolescents reported a combined past 30-day cigarette use rate of 2.1%. 6 In California, which is known for having some of the strictest anti-tobacco laws in the nation, only 1.2% of this population reported past 30-day cigarette use in 2021. Other combustible forms of tobacco have also been relatively low across the years with the prevalence of large cigars and little cigars/cigarillos remaining below 10% across the years, more recently below 2% for either product. Smokeless tobacco use has also remained on a steady decline with 3.4% of adolescents reporting past 30-day use in 2018 to 2.3% in 2021. Looking at California specifically, only 0.6% of adolescents said that they had used a smokeless tobacco product in the last 30 days in 2021. Nonetheless, previous research has noted that smokeless tobacco use remains high in niche populations, mainly among non-Hispanic White male individuals who reside in rural areas. Driving the steady increase in overall tobacco use rates among adolescents are electronic cigarettes . These devices are used to vaporize nicotine-containing liquids and other chemical compounds, allowing for the inhalation of chemical vapors. In 2018, 19.2% of school-aged adolescents reported having vaped in the last 30 days, increasing to 22.5% in 2019 followed by a slight decrease to 17.0% in 2022. In California specifically, 8.2% of school-aged adolescents reported past 30-day use of a vape product. These high use rates are often attributed to the various flavors available for vape “juices” which may be enticing to school-aged youth. Findings released from the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey reported that among the middle and high schoolers who used a vape in the last 30 days, approximately 85% used a flavored product with fruit and candy or sweet flavors being the most popular. 

Despite its status as a Schedule I substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act, several states across the nation have implemented policies permitting medicinal and/or recreational use of cannabis products. Some states have even gone the extra step of decriminalizing marijuana possession and use in an effort to reform the criminal justice system’s procedures surrounding cannabis. Adolescent cannabis use in particular, which remains illegal for individuals under 21 years of age in California, has seen fluctuations across the years. Overall rates of past 30-day use of marijuana/hashish products among school-aged adolescents in the United States were at 14.6% in 2018, followed by a slight decrease to 11.0% in 2021, and is now at 12.3% as of 2022. 6 Past 30-day marijuana vaping, as a modality, has increased among this population from 5.7% in 2018, to 10.1% in 2021, and current rates standing at 9.6% as of 2022. 6 Marijuana use rates in California, a state that legalized medicinal use in 1996 and recreational use in 2016, have increased among school-aged adolescents. During the 2019-2020 academic year, 31.2% of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in California reported ever-using cannabis products, with 15% reporting past 30-day use. The most commonly used modalities for marijuana use among students in California were smoking at 50.6% among current users, drying rack for weed followed by vaping at 32.6%. Current California Education Code stipulates that all suspensions and expulsions are warranted if a student commits a “violent crime, possesses/uses drugs or weapons, steals, bullies, hazes, behaves obscenely, threatens to cause physical harm, or damages school property”. The decision to suspend or expel a student who has committed a suspendable offense is at the discretion of the principal or district superintendent. Since the 1980’s, most policies and guidelines surrounding discipline in California’s schools have been punitive in nature, with zerotolerance approaches being the norm. However, a shift to more restorative disciplinary methods has been seen in various districts not only in California, but throughout the United States. For drug-related disciplinary policies in particular, California Education Code states that students may be suspended or expelled if they are caught in possession, using, selling, furnishing, or under the influence of any controlled substance under Division 10 of the California Health and Safety Code . Controlled substances listed under this code include any forms of opiates, opium derivatives, hallucinogenic substances , depressants, and other “hard” drugs . The current California Education Code also classifies possession or use of tobacco products or alcohol as a suspendable offense. Nonetheless, a recent announcement from the California Department of Education instituted new guidelines for what may constitute a suspendable incident. Although policies for drug-related offenses remain in effect, guidelines for suspensions and expulsions for defiance related infractions have shifted. Students in grades K-8 can no longer be suspended for “willful defiance”, defined as being disruptive or acting in a way that defies authority. Research has found that punitive measures to address willful defiance have historically impacted students of color and sexual/gender minorities at disproportionate rates. State officials have emphasized that punitive measures such as suspension should be considered as a last resort, instead diverting students to necessary services and interventions as alternatives to suspension. These policies highlight a major transition from punitive measures which are more exclusionary in nature and tend to isolate students. The “alternative to suspension” approaches currently being proposed seek to improve behavioral and academic outcomes utilizing restorative justice and trauma-informed approaches. They also seek to provide individualized support in lieu of punitive discipline by providing additional academic, behavioral , and social support. The CDE has also encouraged schools to draw from existing mental health support and behavioral intervention strategies , an approach that some schools in California are already implementing. Recent studies have found positive impacts of these restorative practices on behavioral outcomes and suspension and expulsion rates, particularly for students of color – a subgroup of the student population that has been found to be disproportionately impacted by the negative effects of punitive measures. 

Overall student suspension rates have remained at steady rates across the years. In the 2011-12 academic year, the state-wide suspension rates were at 5.8%, steadily decreased to 3.6% in 2016-17, and were most recently reported at 3.2% as of the 2021-22 academic year. 19 It is important to note that the 2018-19 academic year was the last full year of in-person instruction due to pandemic-related campus closures during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years. As such, suspension and expulsion data provided for the period during campus closures may not be reflective of the actual number of students that may have committed suspendable offenses during this time. Nonetheless, as seen in Figure 1, a slight decrease in the total number of illicit drug related suspensions is evident between the 2014-15 and 2016-17 academic years, with a steady increase in 2017-18. The notable decrease in the 2020-21 academic year is reflective of the school closures and transition to remote learning between March 2020 and Fall 2021, during which the majority of students were not attending school in-person.One strategy for alternative-to-suspension programs is the incorporation of RJP approaches in disciplinary protocols. The philosophies embedded in RJPs are rooted in South Pacific and North American indigenous cultural values which emphasize the importance of community and interpersonal connectedness. Originally implemented in criminal justice systems, they are an alternative to punitive measures found to be successful in reducing repeat offenses and fostering reintegration for the offender. School systems in Australia began implementing RJPs in educational settings in the 1990’s with other nations following shortly thereafter, including the United States. RJP philosophies focus on “wound repair”, recognizing that entire communities are harmed when an individual commits an offense. Major components of RJPs tie in community cohesiveness, harm repair, and reintegration. In contrast to exclusionary discipline , RJPs bring stakeholders together for civil discussions in a “safe space”. Some critical components of RJPs that foster these “safe spaces” include restorative circles/restorative conferences, community-building circles, restorative conversations, and peer-to-peer mediations. The overarching aims of RJPs are to restore communities and repair any harm done, similar to punitive measures; however, the main difference being a focus on strengthening relationships and reintegration for the offender.Current methods for evaluating RJP programs and their respective components have mainly been implemented to assess impact and effectiveness on variables of interest. These variables include participant behavioral changes, knowledge, shifts in school climate, and impacts on discipline landscapes. Most recently, Acosta and colleagues assessed implementation fidelity of RJP program components and their impacts on school climate, staff involvement and overall engagement utilizing a randomized controlled trial design. Using these variables, investigators made comparisons to schools not implementing RJP programs. Other RCTs have examined differences in discipline rates, mainly suspension and expulsion rates, between nonRJP and RJP schools. 

Mushrooms are added to traditional dishes including banosh and kulesha. The main components of banosh and kulesha are corn flour and polonynska bryndza . Both traditional dishes serve as a base to add either berries or mushrooms, depending on the holiday. Forest mushroom soup is also a very common first course and has long been a part of the Hutsul, traditional diet. During specific Christian holidays, fasting is a practice and “it is important for people to stock with dried mushrooms.” [Katya .] Mushroom hunting is embedded in Ukrainian culture overall but even more so in the Carpathian forests, where these mushrooms grow. The role of polonynas in Hutsul landscape is intertwined with traditional foods, specifically in the making of sheep’s cheese . Polonynska bryndza is made during the summer months and obtained from milk of local Carpathian sheep or cows. The process of making bryndza is at least a 600-year-old tradition, and is deeply intertwined with traditional food and landscape, specifically high meadows, called polonynas . This tradition, passed down from generation to generation, preserves ecocultural memories tied to plant and lichen species found in polonynas as well the process of making polonynska bryndza. As noted in the introduction, the decline of polonynas is linked to cattle population decline after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when keeping cattle became economically difficult and expensive. Due to this decline, it is synergistically changing the landscape and its floral diversity, leading to overgrowth. Without grazers and active tending of the land, this biocultural reservoir faces loss. The decline of livestock numbers and polonyna pasture use is directly related to intergenerational decline of interest and low economic competitiveness, curing cannabis as well as the time constraints on working populations . This has rippled down to demographic shifts and work migration seen Hutsulshchyna.

Migration was observed in many of the villages visited, where residents migrate seasonally to work in Poland, Russia or Western Europe with predominant sectors being seasonal agricultural work, construction, and service . Government subsidies to uphold Hutsul pastoral traditions are nonexistent in Ukraine. One recent positive development in 2020 that works to preserve bryndza, and by proxy, polonynas, is the European Union’s incorporation of bryndza as a geographical indicator. The EU states use a system of protected geographical indicators, which include names that are applied to products made within a specific area . It is the ecological processes within the landscape, climate, and soil that ensures the tradition, and its perpetuation of local economy within the region and unique taste. This is the first product in Ukraine with this geographical indication mark, ensuring its authenticity, promotion on the economic market, and guaranteeing its quality. Traditional foods in Hutsulshchyna are tethered to the landscape and the various habitats that species are found. Many berry species provide critical nutrition in the form of food, as well as medicinal, economic, and ecological importance. Bilberry and raspberry are considered the most culturally important plants. Mushrooms, such as penny bun and chanterelles, are highly sought after and a critical food source, especially during the winter religious season. Polonynas, as a critical and culturally significant habitat in Hutsulshchyna, are concretely linked to the traditional food of bryndza, as well as many other culturally important plants ; their survivals interlinked. The significance of the EU’s incorporation of bryndza as a geographical indicator provides a layer of resilience in maintaining these practices and thus ensuring food sovereignty. Attributes of socio-ecological resilience include adaptive capacity, which consists of both short-term, immediate responses and long-term, culturally valued responses . TEK, formed through ecocultural memories, is an active reflex of acknowledging rootedness to place through language, practice, and local ecologies, ultimately sustaining the adaptive capacity of Hutsul communities to survive world wars, food shortages, shifting borders, long-lasting impacts of colonialism as well as current environmental challenges.

Ecocultural memories thread together to form a dynamic knowledge base called TEK, which provides a continual opportunity for knowledge sharing within communities. It can be seen as a time-tested, repeated, readjusted knowledge base resulting in resilience. Coping strategies include gathering a diversity of foods from a diversity of habitats, mitigating the possibility of food scarcity by redistributing reliance on any one habitat type or food source. Another coping strategy includes modifying and continually adapting harvesting of where, when, and how of culturally important species are gathered, dependent on disturbances and climatic changes. Adaptive strategies include an economy of gathering which provides a diversified way of supplementing income and personal needs, while providing trade between communities. Additionally, fallback foods used in the early 20th century are still used today, with uses transforming from medicine or seasoning to food, under times of stress. Fallback foods provide a built-in coping capacity to overcome future adversities. It is the integration of coping mechanisms and adaptive strategies that provide the pathway to maintaining traditional foods in the region, which explicitly connect people to place through religious holidays, meal sharing, and customs. Food sovereignty is an emergent characteristic of community-driven, sustainably maintained ecosystems that provide culturally relevant sustenance, nurturing both community and landscape. Lab-on-a-chip systems are used to perform personalized health diagnostic tests away from the lab. Implementation of bio-assay automation reduces the cost of medical personnel and diminishes the incidence of human errors. Point-of-care diagnostic platforms are required to have low cost, low power use, be reliably automated, and free of sophisticated detection technologies. POC platforms have already been realized in the form of lateral flow immunoassays and paper fluidic colorimetric assays. Unfortunately, the aforementioned POC devices are based on capillary flow, and therefore do not work well when more complex multi-step bio-assays are performed. In these cases, some other fluid propulsion mechanisms instead of capillary flow are required.

There are many POC devices that rely on active propulsion techniques, like centrifugal propulsion, electrowetting, and magnetic beads. These tests typically entail increased fabrication and material cost, complex automation schemes, and sophisticated hardware. In this work, we developed two distinct approaches for the realization of an inexpensive automated colorimetric immunoassay with multiple wash steps: A fused deposition modeling -printed frame was used and a disposable fluidic chip that includes an elastomeric dome and fluidic channels fabricated using SLA, was printed, where the fluidic movement was facilitated by servomotors pushing on the elastomeric dome, and propelling the reagents or wash from the domed reservoirs through fluidic channels to the test chamber, or an FDM-printed non-disposable frame was used, with servomotors connected to standard inexpensive and readily-available disposable plastic syringes filled with wash and reagents to automate the steps of the assay. Draining of the test chamber was performed with a syringe attached to a servomotor, where negative pressure was created by the pulling on the syringe plunger. All automation was controlled by a program uploaded to the Arduino-based electronic board of the platform via a computer. The test results of the colorimetric bio-assay can be assessed by eye or with a smart phone for quantitative measurement, and e-mailed or texted to a hospital or doctor’s office. In this work, cannabis dryer we created a proof-of-principle platform that utilized elements of both approaches and , as outlined above. We used plastic syringes for most of the platform reagent reservoirs, including drainage and waste. The wash reservoir consisted of an SLA-printed elastomeric dome. Thus, the feasibility of both approaches was tested at the same time. The automated platform demonstrated in the presented work proved the viability of both approaches: Construction of an automated bio-assay platform using syringes only, or a printed dome-based bio-assay platform. To our knowledge, this study constitutes the first demonstration of an SLA-based dome bio-assay platform and a syringe-based automated bio-assay platform. The concepts developed in the present work build on prior research that utilized FDM to fabricate a fluidic chip with embedded microchannels. Fluid leakage was a recurring issue in the design, due to the layer-by-layer deposition nature of FDM. Our present fabrication approach utilizes syringes and photocurable resin cross linked using SLA, thus mitigating the problem of fluid leakage. The present platform employs FDM printing for the fabrication of parts that are not in contact with fluids, such as the non-disposal platform frame and the gear/rack mechanisms. Additionally, the prior fluidic platform design used molded silicone domes that needed to be sealed to the body of 3D printed fluidic chip. Our present fabrication route avoids the need to seal the domes to the plastic chip by 3D-printing the integrated dome. The proposed approach is useful in making POC bio-assays more widespread.

For example, a hospital in rural India with an FDM printer could be sent a stereolithography file to print a frame. The Arduino electronic board and other parts, such as servomotors, can be easily acquired. All the parts and materials to produce our automated platform cost less than $100, while all disposable materials, including syringes, tubing, and reagents, cost around $5 per test. If an exclusively syringe-based platform is utilized, the only disposable parts needed are plastic syringes. The syringes would be filled with a prescribed volume of reagents, and the required program uploaded to the Arduino board. This approach provides the most flexibility to perform a wide range of bio-assays on the spot, as it does not require all the reagents in typical pre-packaged volumes. This simplifies assay logistics, including that of cold storage of reagents. We expect that our proposed recipes and programs will be readily available for download by non-profit organizations and reagent makers. There is a growing interest in manufacturing functional parts inexpensively with high-aspect-ratio geometry and complex topologies. Additive manufacturing , including various types of 3D printing, is an increasingly popular form of fabrication. The AM process requires a part to be designed using a CAD program, such as SolidWorks, followed by the extrapolation of the structural information into an STL file. The STL file partitions the CAD drawing into a series of volumetric pixels, which are digitally sliced into layers along the Z direction. These layers are physically deposited onto a substrate in layer-by-layer manner, using various AM methods, including FDM and SLA. FDM and SLA accommodate a variety of material choices, including elastomeric materials, allowing for the fabrication of flexible parts such as the dome-based elastic pumps presented in this work. In this work, we conducted a brief review of microfluidic device fabrication methods, and emphasized recent developments in additive manufacturing. We followed this review with a description of the fabrication processes selected for our bio-assay platform. Lastly, we detailed an outline of our experimental procedures, and described the experimental results of a malaria bio-assay performed on our automated platform.The first traditional microfluidic devices were fabricated using glass and silicon, utilizing mostly a toolbox of lithographic techniques employed in the semiconductor industry. Equipment selection was subsequently further developed to include femtosecond lasers to fabricate glass microfluidic chips, and the selection of materials employed for fluidic chips was also expanded to include such materials as “liquid Teflon” and environmentally-sensitive materials such as hydrogels. With the advent of soft lithography and 3D printing, there was a push to develop inexpensive and reliable microfluidic platforms with bio-compatible plastics and resins, demonstrated by the recent fabrication trends outlined below.Soft lithography is based on a three-step process where microfabrication techniques are first used to produce a reusable mold, which is then filled with a curable epoxy Polydimethylsiloxane and subsequently separated from the mold after an appropriate curing time. The molded part is typically attached to a glass substrate using plasma treatment. The soft lithography approach allows for the usage of more expensive high-precision clean room lithographic techniques to produce a mold. Once the mold is produced, it can be used multiple times to fabricate identical fluidic chips, dramatically reducing the cost of individual fluidic microdevices. The soft lithography approach has allowed for much more widespread adoption of lab-on-a-chip devices, and for the production of intricate parts such as elastomeric valves. For example, the PDMS valves used by the Quake group have facilitated the implementation of large-scale microfluidic bioreactors for drug discovery and other applications. However, when the device is assembled from separately produced parts, the manufacturability is restricted, due to cumbersome alignment, bonding, and assembly. 3D printing presents an approach where a complete microfluidic device is produced without post-processing alignment and assembly steps.

Coping mechanisms include modifying subsistence activity patterns in gathering culturally important species and incorporating a diversity of species use at varying intensities across habitats. Adaptive strategies include the integration of fallback foods still used today as well as a local economy of gathering. The use of traditional foods is an expression of regional, socio-ecological resilience. Traditional foods are an integral part of Hutsul community life, as seen in culture and ritual, stewardship of landscapes, gathering practices, economies, nesting TEK in place. The Carpathian Mountains span several countries including the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, and Ukraine. Containing Europe’s largest remaining old growth forest ecosystems outside of Russia, the Carpathians are a biodiversity hotspot, harboring one-third of all European vascular plant species. Considered the “Amazon of Europe”, this region is one of Europe’s last fully undeveloped landscapes, a rich refuge for large carnivores and a principal source of subsistence to 16 million people . The Carpathian region in Ukraine covers 3.5% of Ukraine’s area and 10.3% of total area of the Carpathian Mountains . The flora species composition of the Carpathian alpine forest provides key indicators of ecosystem health in response to climate change . As an ancient corridor and refuge for humans, the cultural landscape mirrors the breadth and depth of the biological landscape. Beginning over 2,000 years ago, many tribes have established cultural roots in this region . In Ukraine, there are various Indigenous, ethnographic groups, ranging from the Tatars in Crimea, who are currently facing intensified persecution due to Russian occupation , to the highlanders in the eastern Carpathian Mountains: including Hutsuls in Hutsulshchyna , Boykos,cannabis growing equipment in the Bystrytsia Solotvynska River Basin, and Lemkos, in the Low and Middle Beskyd Mountains .

Archaeological evidence points to human existence in the region dating back to 100,000 years before present . This study is centered in the cultural, historical center of Hutsulshchyna, which translates to “Land of Hutsuls”, a mountainous area of the Carpathian Mountains in southeastern Ukraine and northern Romania . This territory covers three administrative regions in Ukraine as well as a portion in northern Romania. At a landscape scale, Hutsuls, traditional pastoral highlanders of the Ukrainian Carpathians, have maintained alpine grasslands through mountain shepherding of cows and sheep . Currently, there is a continuing threat of cultural loss of this practice due to low economic competitiveness and increasing disinterest among younger generations . Maintenance of these alpine grasslands is declining quickly with newer pressures including tourism infrastructure and emigration of younger generations to cities. This recent decline of grazing on secondary grasslands has led to reforestation of previously cleared areas . However, mountain shepherding and other traditional ecological practices, such as gathering of NTFP , like wild edible plants and mushrooms, although threatened, have survived. NTFPs, typically refer to substances, materials or non-woody species that provide economic value to rural communities . Forests and a multitude of other habitats , tolokas , and alpine areas) bordering various village settlements provide an integral zone of nourishment through the gathering of wild and cultivated species. Flowers, birch sap, resin, honey, mushrooms, and berries gathered in these diverse habitats form an essential part of the social fabric and political economy of Ukrainian culture , particularly in forest-dependent Hutsul communities. In the Ukrainian Carpathians, 59-91% of the population lives in rural areas ; this broad range is due to the socioeconomic inequality between rural and urban areas in the region .

The interdependence between nature and need is explicit. While most houses have electricity, most water is taken from nearby wells and rivers and most villages have no sewage system . People trek to natural mineral water springs, which is an old spiritual tradition. There are over 800 natural mineral sources in this region . Communities are self-sufficient in terms of their nutritional needs, relying on a diversity of habitats nearby. Food is grown, gathered, and stored . Many households in this region rely on subsistence-based agriculture with homes surrounded by chickens, pigs, cows, goats, and additional income derived from family members going abroad for work. Low salaries demand multiple avenues of revenue from subsistence farming, gathering, and selling of culturally important wild species, as well as opening one’s home to tourist stays . For centuries, local Hutsul people have creatively and effectively managed culturally important species in the Carpathian Mountains maintaining their productivity and availability, thus creating a socioeconomic safety net to sustain them in times of scarcity. As Ukraine continues to face political crisis , financial insecurity, food scarcity and increasingly expensive medical care, trade and direct consumption of NWFPs in local diets has increased in the Carpathian region . According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 80% of developing countries rely on NWFPs for nutrition and health purposes . NTFPs, like wild plants and mushrooms, contribute to a growing local economy, diversify diets, present possibilities for genetic research and development in new domesticated crops, and provide a lens for understanding cultural identity. Hutsulshchyna has been a place of extensive ethnographic work starting in the early 1800s and continuing well into the 1930s, when this region was under various colonial regimes .

In the last five years, a group of authors have centered their ethnobotanical research in Bukovina, the southeastern corner of Hutsulschyna with several studies focusing on Hutsul ethnobotany . Their methodologies generally consist of qualitative interviewing followed by quantitative analyses including detailed use report and calculations of the Jaccard Similarity Index to cross-culturally compare ethnobotanical uses on either side of the border. Their studies suggest that the establishment of the border between Ukraine and Romania in 1940 and the resulting impacts of Soviet policies in Ukraine contribute to differences in ethnobotanical use and knowledge transmission between Hutsuls in North Bukovina and Hutsuls in South Bukovina . Additionally, other studies analyze differences between wild and cultivated species’ use between Romanians and Hutsuls in Bukovina as well as the revitalization of ethnobotanical practices in religious holidays of Hutsuls in Northern Bukovina and Ukrainians in Roztochya, western Ukraine . The most recent study infers that Hutsuls in Northern Bukovina exhibit greater reliance and dependence on forest habitats than Hutsuls in Southern Bukovina . The splitting of Hutsulshchyna between Ukraine and Romania in 1940 and the resulting socio-political policies implemented on each side of the border guide the narrative of these studies; differences seen in species uses, range of species as well as ethnobotanical knowledge transmission are attributed to this border creation. This study builds upon previous studies to focus in the cultural, historical Hutsul center and explore the role of ethnobotanical knowledge in supporting the various coping mechanisms and adaptive strategies present within Hutsul communities. The methodologies employed in the case study were derived from extensive field seasons between 2017-2019 , employing historic and ethnographic literature reviews, participant observation , community-based participatoryaction research , and a translational approach . As discussed in Chapter 1, a translational approach was an integral part of this collaborative project, employing five key dimensions to resilience building including 1) communication and engagement, 2) policy, 3) education, 4) knowledge creation, and 5) personal actions. The main goal behind the translational approach is to produce policies based on transparent co-production of knowledge by all stakeholders impacted by those same policies . This chapter will be co-published by Hutsul scientists, Mariia Pasailiuk and Oleh Pohribnyi, facilitating dissemination of knowledge on their terms, and serving as published affirmation of the importance of Hutsul ethnobotany in regional economic development and environmental policymaking. During the first field season , the first author met both the second and third authors, Hutsul scientists Mariia Pasailiuk and Oleh Pohribnyi, to begin this collaborative research project. The development of the research presented here is generated from an attempt understand the synergistic social, economic, and eco-cultural spheres that inform Hutsul community livelihoods. By publishing this research, we show the deep interconnectedness between Hutsul communities and their own landscapes,cannabis drying trays while voicing Hutsul community members’ perspectives on regional environmental challenges. Connections and relationships with community members and colleagues were made four months prior to interviewing to facilitate in-depth participation in the research process. There were distinct considerations made when thinking about how this publication could harm and benefit communities. To address these issues, community members are not named here, unless explicit permission was granted. Oral consent was obtained prior to each interview.

However, since there is no official ethical review process regarding the protection of human participants in Ukraine, the first author obtained a local ethical review and approval of the project from the Verkhovyna National Nature Park in Ukraine . The local ethical review of the project was translated into English and then approved by the Institutional Review Board Committee at the University of California, Davis. In the first field season, between December 2017 and August 2018, the first author conducted in-depth interviews of 40 Hutsul elders, herbalists, and knowledge holders through snowball sampling in eight different villages, including Hutsul foresters, rangers, and scientists at two national parks surrounding wild species use including names, habitats found, gathering methods, ethnobotanical uses, ways of preparation. Interviews were conducted in Ukrainian, and participants responded in Hutsul and Ukrainian. All interviewees were over the age of 18 , with an average age of 53, with interviews ranging from 30 minutes to four hours. Key knowledge holders were interviewed multiple times to clarify plant names and plant uses with the aid of photographs and specimens. The first field season provided data for calculations to derive various ethnobotanical indices , frequency of citation per species , cultural importance index , number of uses per species , relative frequency of citation index , fidelity level per species for wild species and commonly cultivated plants, with a focus on the cultural importance index . During the second field season all authors participated in follow-up interviews and participant observation to further clarify TEK surrounding species use, including names, habitats and more specifically interview elders about species gathered during times of scarcity. The first round of interviews captured current species use, gathering practices and ecology, while the second round of interviews focused on species relied on in times of scarcity and emerging environmental challenges. A discussion emerges from the two rounds of interviews between species currently used and those relied upon during times of scarcity. As part of our methodology, we also conducted an extensive ethnographic literature review comparing our findings on a species-by-species basis with noted fallback foods identified in past and current studies . Throughout both field seasons , key elders and knowledge holders were interviewed multiple times to clarify plant names and plant uses with the aid of photographs and voucher specimens. Alignment of common names with botanical names, and plant identification of voucher specimens was confirmed and cross-referenced with botanists and scientists at the Hutsulshchyna National Nature Park as well as with botanist Roman Lysiuk, from Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University. Taxonomic texts from the Hutsulshchyna National Nature Park library were also used to identify species including plants, mushrooms, and lichen. Additionally, throughout both field seasons, guided by elders and specialists, I participated in trips throughout the gathering season to the Chornohora Mountain range and local areas to better understand gathering practices in the region. Lastly, I organized a total of five informal group discussions with local women regarding plant use and environmental change seen in the region. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and translated into English and data were organized in R, and the ethnobotany R packaged developed by Cory Whitney was used to calculate quantitative ethnobotanical indices . Quantitative indices, based on in-depth and multiple semi-structured interviews, assess passive knowledge and “participant consensus,” the degree of agreement among interviewees . In this study, we focus on species’ cultural importance derived from the cultural importance index , which is the sum of use reports divided by the number of participants to account for the diversity of uses for each species . The diversity of uses noted include food , medicine and other . Contextdriven components, like habitat, are valuable in understanding species’ impact on the day-to-day lives of people. A community ecology approach was incorporated in the analysis, by noting species’ presence or absence , in various habitat types including roadside, pasture, toloka, meadow, woodland, forest, field, polonyna, alpine area, garden. Each of these habitats encompasses a range and gradient of human interaction or human structuring as seen in Table 3.1.

In terms of development of the phenological calendar at a regional park level, this serves as an accessible one-pager to ground the importance and prevalence of gathering culturally important species. Lastly, implementation of the pine ecocultural restoration project is still to come. The clear, actionable results of this research are still to be seen in many ways. These small, incremental, translational steps in the short-term, will hopefully make progress in successful outcomes in the long-term .The translational approach to interdisciplinary ecological research provides a fairly novel, yet necessary and integrated call to intentionally include diverse voices in the decision-making processes that govern policy making. Given the abundance of socially linked environmental problems governing our global climate, it is urgent that ecologists consider the direct policy impacts of their research. Research shows that integrating strategies typically seen in the social sciences are effective in bridging the gap between research and decision-making entities . Training future translational ecologists in practical competencies including areas such as mediation, conflict management, project management, ethics, as well as nurturing personal attributes including empathy, leadership, and a commitment to valuing multiple world views, epistemologies, non-formal knowledge, and experience. Translational ecologists, in many instances, are asked to invest their time in crossing boundaries of understanding, distinct fields,ebb and flow flood table and personal comfort zones, in order to participate in a collaborative decision-making as a result of a translational process. In reflecting on various dimensions present in the translational approach and in my own dissertation research process, I provide concrete examples of challenges encountered and direct actions taken to address those challenges.

In addition, I present insights into necessary areas of growth and development, as I continue along my journey in research and education. There continues to be a great need for translational researchers who can collaboratively create research objectives and methodologies that are contextually driven and culturally relevant in order to drive thoughtful decision making and proposed solutions to environmental problems. The diverse ecosystems nestled in the Carpathian Mountains are biodiversity hotspots with forests and grasslands harboring over 200 endemic plant species. Considered the “Amazon of Europe”, this mountain region is one of Europe’s last fully undeveloped landscapes; it serves as a rich refuge for large carnivores and principle source of subsistence to 16 million people . The Carpathian region in Ukraine covers 3.5% of Ukraine’s area and 10.3% of total area of the Carpathian Mountains . The flora species composition of the Carpathian alpine forest provides a key indicator of ecosystem health in response to climate change . As an ancient corridor and refuge for humans, the cultural landscape mirrors the breadth and depth of the biological landscape. Beginning over 2,000 years ago, many tribes have established cultural roots in this region . Ukraine is home to Indigenous, ethnographic groups ranging from various highlanders in the eastern Carpathian Mountains including Hutsuls in Hutsulshchyna , Boykos, in the Bystrytsia Solotvynska River Basin, Lemkos, in the Low and Middle Beskyd Mountains as well as Tatars in Crimea . Archaelogical evidence points to human existence in the region dating back to 100,000 years . This ethnobotanical study is centered in the cultural, historical center of Hutsulshchyna, which translates to “Land of Hutsuls”, a mountainous area of the Carpathian Mountains in the southwestern Ukraine and northern Romania . This territory covers three administrative regions in Ukraine as well as a portion in northern Romania.

At a landscape scale, for centuries, Hutsuls, traditional pastoral highlands of the Ukrainian Carpathians, have maintained alpine grasslands through mountain shepherding. Currently, there is a continuing threat of cultural loss of this shepherding practice due to its low economic competitiveness as well as increasing disinterest among younger generations . Maintenance of polonynas is declining quickly as newer pressures such as tourism infrastructure and emigration of younger generations to cities rise. The recent decline of grazing on secondary grasslands has led to reforestation of previously cleared areas . However, mountain shepherding and other traditional ecological practices, such as gathering of NTFP , like wild edible plants and mushrooms, have continued to thrive despite these pressures. NTFPs, typically refer to substances, materials or non-timber species that provide economic value to rural communities . Forests and a multitude of other habitats bordering various village settlements provide an integral zone of nourishment through the gathering of wild and cultivated species . Flowers, birch sap, resin, honey, mushrooms, and berries, gathered in these diverse habitats, form an essential part of the social fabric and political economy of Ukrainian culture , and in forest-dependent Hutsul communities. Lived and experienced by local and Indigenous communities worldwide, TEK is cultural, spiritual, intergenerational, dynamic, place-based, environmental wisdom for survival and interconnection that is revisited, reinterpreted, and re-evaluated consistently . TEK, the scientific method brought to life through culture, plays a significant role in meeting community needs, while adapting to environmental changes and societal needs. In this region, TEK have all been impacted by deforestation and ecosystem degradation caused by various factors such as illegal logging, climate change, and ski tourism .

As Ukraine continues to face political crisis, financial insecurity, food scarcity, and increasingly expensive medical care, trade and direct consumption of NTFPs in local diets has increased in the Carpathian region . According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 80% of developing countries rely on NTFPs for nutrition and health purposes . NTFPs contribute to a growing local economy, diversify diets, present possibilities for genetic research and development in new domesticated crops, and provide a lens for understanding cultural identity. For centuries, local Hutsul people have creatively and effectively managed species, maintaining their productivity and availability, thus creating a socioeconomic safety net to sustain them in times of scarcity. Hutsulshchyna has been a place of extensive ethnographic work starting in the early 1800s and continuing well into the 1930s, whereby this region was under various colonial regimes . In the last 5 years, a group of authors have centered their ethnobotanical research in Bukovina, the southeastern corner of Hutsulschyna with several studies focusing on Hutsul ethnobotany . Their methodologies generally consist of qualitative interviewing followed by quantitative analyses including detailed use report and calculations of the Jaccard Similarity Index to cross-culturally compare ethnobotanical uses on either side of the border. Their studies suggest that the establishment of the border between Ukraine and Romania in 1940 and the resulting impacts of Soviet policies in Ukraine contribute to differences seen in ethnobotanical use and knowledge transmission between Hutsuls in North Bukovina and Hutsuls in South Bukovina . Additionally, other studies analyze differences between wild and cultivated species’ use between Romanians and Hutsuls in Bukovina as well as the revitalization of ethnobotanical practices in religious holidays of Hutsuls in Northern Bukovina and Ukrainians in Roztochya, western Ukraine . The most recent study infers that Hutsuls in Northern Bukovina exhibit greater reliance and dependence on forest habitats than Hutsuls in Southern Bukovina . The splitting of Hutsulshchyna between Ukraine and Romania in 1940 and the resulting socio-political policies implemented on each side of the border guide the narrative of these studies; differences seen in species uses, range of species as well as ethnobotanical knowledge transmission are attributed to this border creation. What does traditional ecological knowledge which supports ethnobotanical use look like in the center of Hutsulshchyna? How is TEK adapting to regional challenges? This study elucidates today’s current traditional ecological knowledge in the Carpathian Mountains, underpinning the practices of gathering wild and cultivated species use ,hydroponic drain table radiating out from the historical, cultural center of Hutsulshchyna, Verkhovyna, in Ukraine. Building upon previous studies, this study incorporates both the ethnobotanical, quantitative analyses as well as collaborative, qualitative methodologies . By exploring how TEK supports gathering practices surrounding use, factors including accessibility to habitat and availability of species arise; current ecosystem, climatic and cultural changes are impacting these factors. The results of this study are interpreted through the lenses of quantitative ethnobotanical indices , qualitative methods , and TEK . The answers to all these questions provide a starting point to centering TEK within a broader context of conservation policy, acknowledging the critical relationships between forest-dependent communities and their neighboring habitats.

The study area of focus within Hutsulshchyna has experienced numerous battles including Tartar hordes , the Polish regime , the Austrian-Hungarian Empire , Poland , and the Soviet Union . During the interwar period between World War I and World War II, Hutsulshchyna was split between Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia . In 1940, Hutsulshchyna was split between the Soviet Union and Romania. In 1991, when Ukraine became independent, Hutsulshchyna was then split between Ukraine and Romania. The Hutsulshchyna region holds a lot of appeal for Ukrainian, Polish and European tourists today due to its natural beauty – rolling hills dot a landscape of coniferous pine forests, grazed land, gardens, mountains, polonynas , and rivers. For Hutsuls living in the region, many households manage subsistence agriculture, beekeeping, and cattle operations, with additional income derived from family members going abroad to earn income. Low salaries demand multiple avenues of revenue from subsistence farming, gathering of wild foods, selling valuable wild plants, and opening one’s home to tourist stays . This area is characterized by its high elevation and small villages that dot the valleys between the peaks. Vekhovyna , the center of this study, lies at 607 meters above sea level and has a cold and temperate climate . Characteristic of this region are the valley microclimates, fog, and significant amount of rainfall. Daily average air temperatures can range from 16.9 degrees Celsius, with July being the hottest month to -5.1 degrees Celsius with January being the coldest month. Precipitation can vary from 38 mm to 109 mm . Hutsuls are associated with Ukrainians and Ruthenians , yet they consider themselves a freestanding ethnicity. Political boundaries running through the territory have had minimal effect on Hutsul unity or identity since it is the mountains that form the natural boundary among states, not the artificial lines drawn through them . Lifeway overrides these century-old claims to land, and peoples as seen through shepherding, farming, use and knowledge of plants, embroidery, song, storytelling, and language. Hutsul, considered a unique dialect is endangered due to various socio-economic pressures , and in many instances is indistinguishable from Contemporary Standard Ukrainian . Even from village to village which can be distant across mountain ranges there are notable linguistic differences, as an old saying goes, “in every cottage a different tongue” . The same can be said with local Hutsul plant names and uses as well as place names. I conducted my field research over the course of two field seasons . My methodologies are both quantitative and qualitative in nature. To understand the documented regional ethnobotanical knowledge, I conducted historic and ethnographic literature reviews, as well as visited local museums including Didova Apteka, The Hutsulshchyna Museum, and The Ivan Franko Museum. Two qualitative methods guide this research: 1) participant observation in which I, as a researcher, took part in daily activities, interactions, and events, including gathering trips and 2) community-based participatory action research , in which I worked collaboratively with community members on the framing and formation of this study. During the first field season, between December 2017 and August 2018, I conducted in-depth qualitative semi-structured interviews , using ethnographic interview methods with 40 people including elders, herbalists, villagers, farmers, and knowledge holders through snowball sampling in eight different villages. Interview participants also included foresters, rangers, and scientists at two national parks . Interviewees ranged in age from 25 to 93 years old, with an average age of 53. Interviews were conducted in Ukrainian, and participants responded in Hutsul and Ukrainian. Interviews typically ranged from one hour to four hours, focused on topics of species use , gathering practices, species history and species ecology. I typically brought a camera, audio recorder, notebook, and a travel plant press to each interview. Each participant was asked for consent before recording or photographing occurred. Most interviews occurred at homes, places of work, or at places of gathering. An IRB consent was completed and filed for the length of the study and the project followed the ethical guidelines outlined in the International Society of Ethnobiology .

Cresco Labs Inc reported assisting more than 1000 expungement seekers. Green Thumb Industries Inc contributed opening day proceeds from 4 store launches toward the Last Prisoner Project and Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, and Cresco Labs Inc collected donations at 1 store for the Last Prisoner Project. Cannabis companies developed initiatives nominally promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. These initiatives involved diversifying cannabis industry employment and promoting special populations .Both activities expanded industry involvement in communities through hiring, goodwill, and creating local retailers. Five companies reported internal diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Canopy Growth Corporation planned to create diversity benchmarks and report its progress; we were unable to verify whether they implemented those plans. Curaleaf Holdings Inc created internal employee resource groups for minority, LGBTQ+ , parent, and female employees and established a diversity, equity, and inclusion task force. Green Thumb Industries Inc stated it would cultivate a diverse culture and workforce through equitable employment, salary, and promotional efforts; we did not find implemented plans. Innovative Industrial Properties established a diversity, equality, and inclusion policy but reported no activities. Trulieve established a diversity, equity, and inclusion task force to build its workforce, partnerships, and events and diversify product suppliers. Trulieve planned involvement in work fairs and internships to create a more diverse workforce and to train its employees in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Cresco Labs Inc hosted a business workshop with Michigan’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency as part of the agency’s social equity program. Green Thumb Industries Inc and Cresco Labs Inc used business incubators and licensing programs to help underrepresented groups establish businesses.

Cresco Labs Inc held 13 incubator events in Illinois during 2019 and 2020 that served 255 people and 50 businesses,indoor plant table contributing 2062 staff hours and spending more than $775 000 on licensing fees and incubator events. Curaleaf Holdings Inc partnered with 1 minority-owned business and Women Grow, an organization supporting women in the cannabis industry, as part of its 420 × 25 supplier diversity initiative seeking to secure 420 product suppliers from underrepresented demographic groups in the cannabis industry by 2025. Columbia Care107 planned to partner with businesses owned by members of minority groups and women to support social equity initiatives in Illinois and helped 2 social equity license applicants there develop applications with diversity and community engagement plans after purchasing minority stakes in their enterprises. Trulieve and Cresco Labs Inc132 sponsored the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Cannabis Equity Initiative seeking to increase Black employment in the cannabis industry. Trulieve provided $15 000 for internships and $20 000 for scholarships administered by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the largest Black college organization serving 47 member institutions, to prepare students for cannabis industry careers. Trulieve and Cresco Labs Inc claimed involvement with National Cannabis Roundtable efforts emphasizing improving industry equity. Four companies promoted to special populations by partnering with nonprofits, participating in events, and fundraising using special products. Canopy Growth Corporation and Trulieve sponsored or participated in LGBTQ celebrations. Trulieve sold special edition products, including limited edition Pride products and TruSwag, to raise funds for LGBTQ organizations. Curaleaf Holdings Inc contributed to social justice, equity, and women’s organizations, and Canopy Growth Corporation and Green Thumb Industries Inc participated in campaigns addressing systemic racism, usually with business coalitions.

Seven companies made charitable contributions at national, state, and local levels . Canopy Growth Corporation’s national efforts focused on fundraising for education, breast cancer,mental health, and veterans. Curaleaf Holdings Inc targeted breast cancer, selling pink “Pre-rolls With a Purpose” and pink vaporizer pens with plans to dedicate some proceeds to breast cancer nonprofit organizations in 9 states. Curaleaf Holdings Inc joined the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise funds for research and treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, sold limited edition Rhythm for a Cause vaporizer pens through its dispensaries, and partnered with organizations in 3 states to promote breast cancer awareness. Green Thumb Industries Inc indicated it would donate store opening proceeds to the National Giving Alliance, dedicated to helping low-income and homeless persons. Green Thumb Industries Inc donated more than $34 000 from Dogwalker product sales to 5 animal shelters and partnered with American Corporate Partners, an organization helping veterans transition to civilian life. Grow Generation Corp announced a partnership with Whole Food’s Whole Cities Foundation to donate hydroponics to local community gardens in the US. As part of Cresco Lab Inc’s Make a Difference initiative, employees participated in 75 activities that the company claimed benefitted more than 50 communities across 8 states. Five companies assisted COVID-19 pandemic relief efforts during 2020. Canopy Growth Corporation gave $20 000 to Wounded Warriors Canada’s trauma therapy programs and its mental health assistance related to COVID-19. Canopy Growth Corporation also donated personal protective equipment, converted facilities to produce hand sanitizer, and gave Ontario, Canada, 40 000 surgical masks and 25 000 N95 masks. Canopy Growth Corporation’s subsidiary BioSteel Sports Nutrition Inc contributed $2 million in hydration mix to US and Canadian emergency workers.176-178 Curaleaf Holdings Inc gave frontline workers food. Trulieve donated more than 150 computers to assist distance learning in racial and ethnic minority communities. 

Cresco Labs Inc pledged to hire 250 COVID-19–affected workers, and stated it would pay employees extra during the pandemic. Grow Generation Corp pledged as much as $500 000 in equipment to communities and customers affected by COVID-19. Canopy Growth Corporation, Curaleaf Holdings Inc, Green Thumb Industries Inc, Innovative Industrial Properties, and Trulieve announced or participated in local philanthropic initiatives, including job training, community causes, food banks, homeless shelters, women’s services, a campaign to raise funds for Ronald McDonald charities in Canada , animal shelters, veteran organization, a reforestation organization, housing, and social equity and antipoverty nonprofits. Curaleaf Holdings Inc and Green Thumb Industries Inc planned or claimed to donate proceeds from retail store openings to local charities. Two companies incorporated their CSR programs, with Curaleaf Holdings Inc announcing it would contribute to Black Owned Maine’s family relief program as part of its Rooted in Good platform and store opening, and to food charities as part of its Feed the Block initiative. Trulieve employees locally volunteered for its Make a Difference initiative. Two companies promoted cannabis’ medical utility . Canopy Growth Corporation funded research investigating whether medical cannabis treated sleep disorders or mental health conditions. Canopy Growth Corporation and Columbia Care funded studies on whether cannabis could serve as therapy for opioid misuse or an alternative pain treatment.Canopy Growth Corporation offered cannabis education programs for physicians from at least 2016 to 2019 and partnered with the Canadian AIDS Society, an organization representing local Canadian AIDS and HIV groups, to develop medical cannabis treatment protocols for chronic pain. Canopy Growth Corporation partnered with the Beckley Foundation, a drug reform and psychedelic research think tank, to form Beckley Canopy Therapeutics to research cannabis based medicines. Three companies sought expanded medical access. Curaleaf Holdings Inc planned to fund the Veterans Cannabis Project, a nonprofit organization increasing veteran access to medical cannabis, by dedicating proceeds from branded prerolls. The nonprofit identified Curaleaf Holdings Inc as 1 of 3 partners. Canopy Growth Corporation funded a national patient survey conducted in July and August 2020 in partnership with Medical Cannabis Canada, a volunteer-run medical cannabis access nonprofit. Canopy Growth Corporation sought the survey to lower medical use barriers and gain access to academic institution, hydroponics flood table nonprofit organizations, and government officials. Three companies used CSR activities that they claimed combatted youth use or drugged driving . Cronos Group Inc and Cresco Labs Inc developed marketing regulations that they claimed reduced advertising exposure and appeal to youths. Canopy Growth Corporation developed youth prevention materials with Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Parent Action on Drugs. Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy was a former chapter of international grassroots drug policy reform organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Parent Action on Drugs, which was created in 1983 to prevent use of drugs and alcohol by youths, disbanded in 2019 due to insufficient funding. Canopy Growth Corporation framed its youth prevention programming as helping youths and “young adults make healthy, responsible decisions on the use of cannabis.” Canopy Growth Corporation also partnered with Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada to sponsor advertisements discouraging cannabis-influenced driving. Six companies claimed they were mitigating their environmental impacts by reducing product waste and pollution. Curaleaf Holdings Inc formed a sustainability committee. Trulieve and GrowGeneration Corp were among 17 cofounders of the Sustainable Cannabis Coalition trade association. In 2019, Canopy Growth Corporation partnered with recycling company TerraCycle to pilot a recycling program for cannabis packaging in Canada, collecting more than 1 million pieces of waste. In 2020, Canopy Growth Corporation and Cronos Group Inc piloted a program with the Cannabis Council of Canada to collect cannabis vaping devices for recycling.Curaleaf Holdings Inc and Green Thumb Industries Inc listed sustainability as CSR program pillars. Innovative Industrial Properties, which sells real estate to medical cannabis companies,claimed it was sustainable because it reused existing properties over construction. 

Our results suggest CSR activities of cannabis companies are similar to those of the tobacco industry, which enabled the latter to recruit customers and allies, encourage consumption, expand markets, legitimize its product, and deter regulation. Cannabis company donations to and partnerships with advocacy organizations could generate goodwill and consumption among minority and LGBTQ+ communities, a tactic tobacco companies have used to market to those groups. Collaboration with and funding of advocacy organizations have also been used historically by tobacco companies to form partnerships that allowed them to build policy coalitions supporting their agenda . Cannabis companies also created business partnerships that could expand their reach. Although social equity programs developed by state governments allocate licenses to communities and individuals impacted by criminalization, they often impose regulatory and financial barriers. Proof currently exists that some cannabis companies assisted social equity license applicants in exchange for control of proposed businesses, providing the businesses with increased market access. Cannabis companies have publicized CSR activities similar to those of the tobacco industry, which has previously used such concerns to generate reasons for policy engagement with government officials. Industry research on cannabis as an opioid substitute and to treat mental health disorders and insomnia mirrored tobacco industry pharmaceuticalization, the strategy of selling nicotine replacement therapy to legitimize tobacco company products as therapeutic. Pharmaceuticalization may normalize and promote cannabis as a health or medical treatment akin to the tobacco industry’s sale of nicotine replacement therapy, possibly providing cannabis companies additional markets to increase consumption and profits. Cannabis company CSR activities regarding youth prevention, cannabis-influenced driving, and sustainability shared commonalities with CSR activities of the tobacco industry, portraying companies as addressing harmful business effects while sidestepping concerns. The tobacco industry has used youth prevention, marketing, and environmental CSR programs to displace effective educational programs and regulation. Cannabis companies stated that youth prevention programming helped prevent preteen cannabis use without messaging against consumption and promoted recycling while avoiding occupational risks arising from workplace exposure to toxins and secondhand smoke exposure where cannabis is consumed. Prevention programming directed at youths by the tobacco industry was historically less effective than government prevention programming and promoted youth consumption via forbidden fruit messaging. In the US, youths had a 12.8% rate of current cannabis use compared with 15.4% rate of electronic cigarette use and a 3.3% rate of combustible cigarette use in January through June 2021. These higher prevalence rates warrant public health messaging that discourages use and avoids normalizing consumption. Cannabis industry promotion of recycling and sustainability programs may divert attention from adoption of regulations preventing harmful environmental pollution. A comparable case is tobacco industry campaigns encouraging individuals to pick up cigarette butts, the largest source of litter globally, rather than accepting responsibility for manufacturing products that are not environmentally sustainable and modifying production practices.This study has some limitations. We included cannabis companies with the largest market capitalizations, which are not necessarily reflective of the entire industry. The publicly available materials included in our analysis are likely incomplete. We excluded video broadcasts and social media posts, potentially affecting our results because social media platforms are used by companies to advertise as well as promote their CSR activities. Despite these limitations, our findings provide detail on CSR strategies pursued by cannabis companies, including similarities with tobacco companies. Further study is warranted regarding cannabis companies’ use of CSR to influence regulation, improve public image, and secure market access.

With respect to international surveillance systems, the UNODC administers two separate surveillance systems that collect data from all participating UN member states: the Annual Reports Questionnaire surveillance system that collects price and purity/ potency data, and the Drug Seizures Database that collects seizure data. Finally, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction administers the Reitox drug surveillance system network, which aggregates data from several country-level surveillance systems in Europe, as described below. Table 1 presents surveillance systems that matched search criteria. First, purity and/or potency of illegal drugs generally remained stable or increased overall during the study period. Second, the price of illegal drugs, with few exceptions, generally decreased. Third, seizures of cannabis, cocaine and opiates generally increased in major drug production regions and major domestic markets. Figure 1 presents data from the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s System To Retrieve Information from Drug Evidence . As can be seen, between 1990 and 2007 , the purity of heroin and cocaine, and the potency of cannabis herb in the US increased, while the inflation-adjusted and purity-adjusted retail street prices of these three drugs declined. Specifically, heroin purity increased by 60% , cocaine purity increased by 11% and cannabis herb potency increased by 161% during this time. During the same period, the prices of heroin,rolling flood tables cocaine and cannabis decreased 81% , 80% and 86% , respectively. Figure 2 presents data collected by the UNODC on the street price of cocaine and opiates in participating European countries .

In these countries, between 1990 and 2009, the aggregate average retail street price of cocaine decreased by 51%, from US$198/g to US $98/g . Similarly, the aggregate average price of opiates in Europe decreased 74%, from a high of US $295/g in 1990 to US$77/g in 2009 .With respect to opiate seizures, the Golden Triangle includes parts of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, and according to the UNODC, this region is the second largest supplier of heroin globally, although production has declined throughout the last decade, with opium production decreasing by approximately 60% and 90%in Myanmar and Laos, respectively. In this region, trends in seizures of opium have fluctuated; 3198 kg of opium were seized in 1990, with a high of 12 462 kg seized in 2007 before a steep decline to 1225 kg in 2010 . Similarly, seizures of heroin fluctuated, with a decrease of more than half, from 1337 kg in 1990, to 627 kg in 2010 , and a peak of 1565 kg seized in 2009. In Afghanistan, which is believed to supply more than 90% of the world’s opium,30 seizures of raw and prepared opium increased by more than 12 000%, from 453 kg in 1990 to 57 023 kg in 2010, and seizures of heroin increased by more than 600%, from 1256 kg in 1990 to 9036 kg in 2010 . With respect to cocaine seizures, according to the UNODC, Latin America’s Andean region, which includes Peru, Bolivia and Colombia, is the primary global supplier of this drug, as coca leaf is grown exclusively in this region. While seizures of cocaine in the Andean region decreased 81%, from 97 437 kg in 1990 to 17 835 kg in 2007 , seizures of coca leaf increased 188% from 601 038 kg in 1990 to 1.73 million kilograms in 2007 . During the same period, the area of cocacultivation in this region declined slightly, from approximately 210 000 to 180 000 ha . Finally, according to the UNODC, major areas of cannabis cultivation exist in North Africa, Afghanistan and North America.

These areas are net exporters of cannabis, although most cannabis-producing countries also produce the drug for internal consumption. In North Africa , seizures of cannabis herb increased by 208% from 67 930 kg in 1990 to 209 445 kg in 2007 . In North America , seizures of cannabis herb increased by 288% from 782 607 kg in 1990 to 3.05 million kilograms in 2007 . In Afghanistan, while data on cannabis herb seizures are not available, seizures of cannabis resin increased 630% from 5068 kg in 1990 to 36 972 kg in 2006 .Longitudinal data from government surveillance systems demonstrate that during the past two decades there has been a general pattern of increased illegal drug supply as defined through lower price and higher purity of heroin, cocaine and cannabis. During the same period, patterns of drug seizures either increased or remained stable, although the trends detected in some of these indicators did not reach statistical significance. As such, we conclude, consistent with previous studies,19 that the global supply of illicit drugs has likely not been reduced in the previous two decades. In particular, the data presented in this study suggest that the supply of opiates and cannabis, in particular, have increased, given the increasing potency and decreasing prices of these illegal commodities. These results have implications for the development of evidence based drug policies, particularly given the interest in novel drug policy approaches in a number of settings in Latin America, North America and Europe. As noted elsewhere, there are limitations of ecological analyses based on international surveillance systems. First, some states collect little or no data on indicators of illegal drug supply, whereas other states spend significant energy on monitoring drug availability. Second, even in states that closely track indicators of supply, the degree to which seized samples of illegal drugs reflect purity of retail drugs sold on the street is subject to variation, though where possible we presented purity-adjusted prices to address this limitation. 

Nevertheless, the long-term trends in increasing purity and decreasing price presented here likely reflect the overall trends in many regions, though it should be noted that in some regions , indicators of price and purity may have been strongly influenced by a few countries such as the UK and Spain. In addition, some exceptions in the trends were observed. Australia for instance, while experiencing a significant decrease in the prices of heroin as well as cannabis, did not experience a significant decrease in the price of cocaine, which may reflect the geographic isolation of the region or other market factors. It is also of note that Australia’s ‘heroin drought’, which saw a sudden drop in measures of the supply and availability of heroin, appears to have had a limited long-term impact on supply, though some experts suggest that it may have resulted in higher levels of poly substance use among Australian heroininjectors. Third, limitations in longitudinal data collection precluded our ability to include amphetamine-type stimulants and other emerging synthetic substances, as this data is limited to certain countries and the focus of this study was on regional trends. It is noteworthy in this regard that the production of synthetic substances—as well as indoor cannabis cultivation—present particular challenges for supply reduction strategies, given that these drugs can be mass produced in clandestine locations regardless of climate or other factors that limit traditional drug production. Finally, while this review focused on patterns of price and purity of selected illegal drugs, these measures are only a marker of drug supply and do not measure other factors determining availability and concomitant rates of drug use. These limitations in assessing global drug supply using classic proxy measures such as price, purity and, to a lesser extent, seizures, flood and drain tray suggest that there may be a need to expand the range of measures systematically collected by governments and international bodies such as the UNODC and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. In particular, meaningfully incorporating measures derived from street-level questionnaires of people who use drugs may provide a more reliable metric of supply and availability. Indeed, some bodies, such as Australia’s IDRS, collect such data, and this methodological approach should be considered by those coordinating surveillance of illegal drugs. Other bodies have also prioritised emphasising measures of community health including reduced HIV infections, reduced drug-related violence and reductions in number of individuals incarcerated. In summary, longitudinal illegal drug surveillance systems demonstrate a general global pattern of falling drug prices and increasing drug purity and potency, alongside a relatively consistent pattern of increasing seizures of illegal drugs. Although source data have limitations and there are some exceptions to these trends, these findings should be useful given the current debates and drug policy experimentation under way in Latin America, North America and Europe. It is hoped that this study highlights the need to re-examine the effectiveness of national and international drug strategies that place a disproportionate emphasis on supply reduction at the expense of evidence-based prevention and treatment of problematic illegal drug use.Death by suicide among Native American peoples is an alarming, racialized health disparity .

According to the Office of Minority Health, Native Americans young people ages 15 to 24 years old die by suicide at a disproportionately higher rate compared to white youth of the same age . Within California, suicide-related behavioral health outcomes for Native American youth are also worse than white youth. From 2017-2019, on average 20.0% of Native American high school students reported experiencing suicidal ideation compared to 17.6% of white youth . Attempting to address this crisis, the US Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration spent approximately $20,000,000.00 per year on tribal-specific suicide prevention efforts from 2018 to 2023 . Despite these efforts, suicide rates have continued to rise over the past decade perpetuating suicide as the leading cause of non-accidental death for Native American young people ages 15 to 24 years old . This shortcoming has urged some scholars to rethink Native American youth suicide by urging a examination of key theoretical constructs to better direct suicide prevention efforts in tribal communities . These critics of mainstream suicidology argue that the domination of a psycho-centric conceptualization of suicide-related behavior overemphasizes the risk factors related to psychopathologies, maladaptive cognitive schema, and other mentally disordered characteristics . As such, the invitation to rethink Native American youth suicide emphasizes aneed to examine suicide and suicide-related behavior beyond this narrow psycho-centric focus to be more engaged with social, structural, and cultural dimensions of tribal health. This paper uses an Indigenous-based theoretical approach to guide a examination of the multi-level, wholistic factors that may influence suicide-related behavior among Native American young people in California. Indigenous Wholistic Theory constructs health as multifaceted, amalgamating spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical domains . Aligned with tribal constructions of health and wellness, positive health outcomes occur when these domains align with responsive historical, social, political, and economic contexts . Subsequently, maladaptive health outcomes—like the exhibition of suicidal ideation— can arise from dysfunction influenced by determinants across any of these domains and related contexts. In this paper, Indigenous Wholistic Theory provides a framework to introduce and situate a broader array of factors that may influence suicide-related behavior in a manner culturally relevant to the lived experienced of Native American youth. A computational, algorithmic approach is employed to understand how a more wholistic array of factors from various levels can predict the individualized presence of suicidal ideation among Native American youth in California . This approach diverges from traditional regression methods that inquire about the statistical associations between risk factors and health outcomes at the population level. This paper incorporates prediction modeling techniques for three purposes relevant to Native American youth in California: 1) identify a model comprising a selection of factors that combine to best predict the individualized presence of suicidal ideation; 2) evaluate how the selected model can discriminate between the presence and absence of suicidal ideation; and 3) assess the agreement between the model’s predicted outcomes with the actual outcomes of the input dataset . Additionally, this paper leverages a substantiation of the Indigenous Computational Approach to guide its inquiry . As such, this paper asks the following research question: which combination of factors can predict suicidal ideation among Native American high schoolers in California? The Indigenous Computational Approach is a response to the inherent limitations of Western research methodologies that employ computational methods within the domain of social science research. By establishing a framework rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing and being, the Indigenous Computational Approach underscores the imperative of recognizing and valuing Indigenous knowledge systems that center tribal voices and perspectives.

The recent discoveries of a variety of medical cannabis with different preparations to treat and or cure a number of serious disorders and its newly discovered industrial applications have given momentum to the quest for exploring, exploiting, and protecting natural resources with commercial potential. The quantity and composition of cannabinoids, in particular, THC and CBD, have been targeted by extensive research by breeders, the scientific community, and legislative authorities for almost half a century. Here, we considered that concentration and the ratio of THC/CBD could be the crucial key points for the initiation of a breeding program towards different end products in the huge cannabis/hemp market. Although cannabis has a long history of cultural use in Iran, there is little detailed information about the Iranian cannabis market, including the chemical characteristics of the locally available cannabis land races, which are stored in the CGRC gene bank. To complete the puzzle, the current study was conducted as the primary report of screening THC and CBD contents of 20 selected native cannabis populations collected from different locations in Iran towards initiating anew breeding program for different industrial and medical purposes. The populations under study differed in morphological features including total height , thin or squat growth, leaf shape, phyllotaxy, number of nodes, number of lateral inflorescences, internode length, compact or non-compact inflorescence, flowering time , seeding time , seed features, etc., and although not reported here,dry rack cannabis this is in line with earlier research reported that chemical phenotypes can be characterized by different morphological features. Danziger and colleagues reported architecture of cannabis plant may considerably affect the cannabinoids profile, which has significant pharmaceutical and economic importance.

Additionally, phenotype markers that can facilitate preliminary identification and selection as a supplement to chemical and genetic analysis developed in 2021. They showed significant morphological differences in terms of leaf color, leaflet shape, large and compact inflorescences, and dense and resinous trichomes, which were identified between 21 cultivars covering three chemical phenotypes . They also reported that modern cannabis cultivars are morphologically distinguished by a morphological feature by users and breeders. Among the studied populations, three dwarf populations including Saq-01, Pir-01, and Naq-01 distributed in the north-west along with 10 other populations were located in the group of Type I . These three unique populations were assumed to be marijuana, as they have similar features to those reported recently with thinner stems, more branches, and a higher density of floral tissues than industrial hemp plants. In addition, the plants of population of Ard-01 were morphologically and chemically distinct.Cannabis is an economically important species and is predicted to become a significant commercial crop with unprecedented market growth potential. Recent publication showed among individual cannabis plant parts including roots, leaves, stem bark and inflorescence, cannabis inflorescence was characterized by the highest concentration of cannabinoids in three chemovars. They stated that the comprehensive profile of bioactive metabolites can rediscover therapeutic potential for each part of cannabis from their traditional use. Chemical screening of natural populations can help identify chemical diversity, which is a primary step for improving breeding programs in this plant. Taken together, the cannabis definitions are different based on scientific and political assignations. The significant difference in cannabinoid content of cannabis is supported by numerous studies showing that the most important classification of cannabis types that vary widely among political jurisdictions is that of the drug type and the fiber type .

THC is the major cannabinoid in marijuana types, while CBD predominates in fiber-type hemps. The cultivation of cannabis varieties containing up to 0.2% ∆-9-THC with no indication of permitted percentage of the other compounds, first of all being non-addictive psychoactive cannabidiol , have been recently allowed by two European regulations and Italian law. These varieties have been used for food, oils, fiber, powder, and bioengineering. Recent studies on chemical composition and quantification of hemp industrial varieties indicated ∆9-THC content was lower compared to other cannabinoids. Additionally, ∆8-THC was detected only in one hemp oil sample at too low a concentration. Additionally, a report in 2019 indicated that, among several cannabinoids, only CBDA was determined to show a different concentration in hemp inflorescences samples. Additionally, according to their study, THCV was not found in the hemp inflorescence samples analyzed, and ∆-9-THC and ∆-8-THC were detected at low concentrations, below the legal limit. Therefore, their results confirmed the classification of the studied samples as fiber . In order to grow consumer interest in hemp oilseed supplements, four main cannabinoids of CBD, CBDA, CBN, and ∆-9-THC in an oil matrix of seven commercial hemp oil supplements have been determined. They reported that the cannabinoid composition is required to be monitored in such supplements, as in some cases, the cannabinoids concentration in analyzed samples differed significantly from those declared by the manufacturers. In addition, cannabis chemotypes have been reported using the biochemical composition, in particular, the THC/CBD ratio in many publications.

Chemical phenotypes can be used to define cannabis varieties with different chemical variants and different morphological features to classify C. sativa into three principal classes differ in their THC/CBD ratios: chemotype I ; chemotype II ; and chemotype III. Additionally, cannabis varieties were classified into three groups: chemotype I , intermediate type , which has an intermediate ratio close to 1.0, and chemotype III, which exhibit a low total THC/total CBD ratio ≤ 1.0. On the other hand, three main classes of cannabis have been suggested based on THC/CBD ratio: THC-type plants with THC/CBD ≥ 10, intermediate-type plants with THC/CBD ≈ 1, and CBD-type plants with THC/CBD ≤ 0.1. Marchei and colleagues stated that, while the THC content in light cannabis has to be within 0.2%, CBD content is highly variable, ranging from 2 to 40%. Additionally, serum THC/CBD concentration ratio was used as a useful biomarker to identify use of light cannabis , illegal THC cannabis , and medical cannabis. Another study on chemotaxonomic discrimination indicated significant chemical differences in three chemotypes, so that CBD dominant varieties had higher amounts of total CBD, while THC dominant varieties had higher total THC, and intermediate varieties were generally equal to or in between those in CBD-dominant and THC-dominant varieties. They finally showed that chemotype markers could be used as chemical fingerprints for quality standardization or variety identification for clinical studies and cannabis product manufacturing. THC and CBD variations among populations of this Iranian collection enabled us to define studied populations as three different groups: Type I , Type II , and Type III with a prevalence of THC, both THC and CBD in an approximately equal proportions, and CBD, respectively . Genetic diversity in Iranian cannabis germplasm has been assessed by merging the data with the marijuana and hemp data prepared by to elucidate the relationship of Iranian cannabis with marijuana and fiber type accessions. Finally, they categorized Iranian cannabis populations into marijuana and hemp clusters and reported that natural populations of cannabis in Iran in general more closely fit the profile of marijuana than hemp. Additionally, in this study, we have used the same sources to fingerprint THCand CBD, and these populations were defined as Type I, Type II, and Type III, thus revealing, on the basis of chemistry, these three distinct types. In this research, most plants of population Ard-01, which were also morphologically distinct with a THC/CBD ratio around one due to equivalent THC and CBD concentrations, were assigned to class Type II,roll bench defined as an intermediate THC/CBD ratio. This supports the findings of a genetic diversity study reported earlier, indicating Ard-01 was failed to group with either the marijuana or hemp clusters. This is an interesting finding and may have immediate significance for commercialization, promising for therapeutic purposes in the production of medications with formula requirement of THC/CBD ratio around the unity such as Sativex®. This is an important medication for the suppression of spasticity and pain associated with multiple sclerosis. It is worth noting that sequencing the whole genome of this morphologically, chemically, and genetically distinct population would be of value, as this should provide further insight into the genetic basis of the three chemotypes described here. Furthermore, a concentration of THC ≤ 0.3% and higher amount of CBD in the plants from the location Sam-01 that was located in class Type III is another significant finding in this study, worthy of further investigation, and may reflect a tight control of cannabinoid type and content for cultivation and could provide pre-breeding germplasm resources for future development of hemp crops, particularly in nations where there is a strict regulatory environment around the production of high THC crops.

Although most of the focus has been on identifying plants with higher concentrations of THC for the recreational drug industry, and those with higher concentrations of CBD for medicinal, fiber, and grain purposes, there is also evidence reporting therapeutic benefits for CBD with anti-convulsive, anti-epileptic, antimicrobial, and anti-parkinsonian properties, which are more important recently due to the lack of psychotropic effects associated with CBD consumption, as well as FDA-approved CBD drugs such as Epidiolex® . Berman and colleagues found that, despite the similarity in CBD contents, not all equally high-CBD cannabis extracts produced the same effects. They stated that, as cannabinoids profiling of diverse medical cannabis plants are different, analyzing the effects of specific cannabis compositions for pharmacological-based research is critical. Therefore, it seems likely in the future that both THC and CBD content may be of wide relevance for further development within the pharmaceutical industry. This is supported by a previous study reported that the combination of the psychoactive cannabis ∆9-THC with other non-psychotropic cannabinoids such as CBD demonstrated a higher activity than THC alone. Additionally, previous findings showed that all three major products—food, fiber, and medicine—were extracted from the same crop of the accessions from Darchula district in the northwest of Nepal. In addition, some Iranian cannabis populations were evaluated using wood and fiber anatomy and stem biometry characteristics. They suggested that both populations of Bsh-01 and Zah-01 are significant candidates in terms of fiber anatomy, fiber length, and stem biometry and can be considered for textile and paper industries, while in this study, the aforesaid populations were defined as Type I and, despite the prevalence of THC, also have eligible fiber anatomy characteristics. Our research showed that populations of Nhv-01, Ban-01, Sir-01, Rmhz-01, Ark-01, and Sam-01 are defined as Type III. However, in the earlier study, some populations are expected to be putative high-potential fiber populations, indicating that both populations Ban-01 and Nhv-01 have strong fiber characteristics such as a higher average of bast and woody cores and, alongside populations of Rmhz-01 and Ark-01, can be considered an option for breeding programs towards producing fiber. The results of this study contribute important pre-breeding information for cannabis breeders to improve breeding programs utilizing this collection. Although the uses of these populations cannot be predicted with certainty, as accessions high in THC or high in CBD are Type I and III, respectively, they are not necessarily “hemp” or “medicinal marijuana” in the classic sense; however, according to previous study using genomic data, Iranian populations were located in two distinct marijuana and hemp clusters. Therefore,populations of this collection assumed to offer a range of measurable health benefits in the pharmaceutical, dietary supplement industries, dual-proposal , and even renewable and sustainable feed stock for the production of bio-fuels. Additionally, fiber anatomy is required to assess for fiber production purposes.In general, correlation analysis and PCA results revealed a positive correlation between temperature variables and the two target chemical metabolite contents, and a negative correlation between latitude as well as elevation and metabolites content . It is clear that higher temperatures promote cannabinoid biosynthesis, as found in this research. We also found a negative correlation between THC and CBD concentrations, but it was not significant. The THC and CBD biosynthesis pathways have been elucidated and show that cannabigerolic acid is a prerequisite for both CBD and THC biosynthesis and then follows two pathways to synthesize carboxylic acids , and these acidic forms of cannabinoids, upon heating or smoking, decarboxylate to their neutral forms. THCA synthase and CBDA synthase enzymes that catalyze the reaction of THCA to THC and CBDA to CBD, respectively, compete with each other for CBGA and expedite neutral cannabinoids creation and their levels.

ZEV infrastructure credits are capped at 5% of the prior quarter’s deficit generation – 2.5% for hydrogen fueling and 2.5% for DC fast charging equipment. Applications for ZEV infrastructure credits are open through 2025 and are valid for 15 years in the case of hydrogen infrastructure, and 5 years in the case of DC fast charging infrastructure. On one level, the addition of infrastructure credits represents a major departure from the original design of the LCFS as it does not directly subsidize the consumption of a low carbon .fuel. Rather, the credits subsidize a fixed cost of providing network infrastructure that may encourage adoption of EVs, the technology which may in turn use a low carbon fuel. In the same way, however, the infrastructure credit can reduce the very effect that LCFS critics have focused on as the central flaw in the regulations design: the encouragement of low, but still nonzero carbon fuel. While infrastructure credits may spur vehicle adoption, their effect on expanding driving miles would be second order. At the same time, if the amount of infrastructure credits awarded through the program were significant enough to ease compliance, these credits can have the effect of lowering the overall LCFS credit price, and therefore reduce even the diluted carbon price effect on end-use fuel prices. The magnitude of any price-suppression effect would depend upon both the quantity of infrastructure credits and the slope of the LCFS compliance cost curve.Initially, there were no formal limits on how high LCFS credit prices could rise, although legal challenges to the regulation effectively delayed implementation,cannabis grow equipment freezing the standard from 2013 through 2015, and effectively limited demand for credits and their pass-through to fuel prices.

However, as the lawsuits were resolved in favor of continued implementation of the LCFS and the standard declined steadily in the last several years , credit prices have risen steadily and raised increasing concerns about the cost of the regulation.32 In its 2015 re-adoption rule, the ARB introduced the credit clearance market, which is a cost-containment mechanism that would in theory limit price increases under some scenarios.Entities in need of LCFS credits for purposes of immediate compliance can purchase credits in the credit clearance market at a price no higher than the prescribed maximum of $200 per ton in 2016 and adjusted for inflation thereafter . If these entities are unable to purchase sufficient credits in this market to reach compliance, then they may carry over their deficits to future periods. Carryover deficits grow by 5% per year, meaning that firms pay an ‘interest’ penalty for deferring compliance. However, firms that hold credits are not required to sell in the credit clearance market, and they would not do so if they believed that they be able to sell their credits at a higher price in the future. Thus, the credit clearance market provides only a soft cap. However, ARB is currently proposing to impose a hard price cap of $200 per ton in 2016 dollars for LCFS credit transactions. To help facilitate compliance under this cap, it proposes a mechanism to ‘borrow credits’ from future residential electric vehicle charging. Under this mechanism, obligated entities could use credits expected to be generated in 2026- 2030 to meet unmet annual deficit obligations in 2020 – 2025. These cost-containment mechanisms are suited for dealing with a transient disruption in clean fuel supply or some other cause of a short-term supply-demand imbalance of LCFS credits. Because of the requirement that borrowed credits be restored with interest, it will not be effective at containing costs in an environment of chronic, long-term credit supply demand imbalance.

The future prospects of the regulation are therefore linked to the potential supply and demand balance through the next 11 years of the program. A circumstance where compliance is only feasible through high cost fuels or sharp reductions in fuel consumption would push credit prices above the maximum credit price for the credit clearance market. One objective of this paper is to assess the potential likelihood of such an outcome. In 2019, ARB is proposing amendments that would backstop this cost containment mechanism, enforcing additional borrowing of future credit generation from residential electricity charging for electric vehicles at the maximum credit price, with a rolling payback schedule enforced on utilities that will borrow the credits, up to a cumulative total of 10 million borrowed credits.This section outlines data and methods used to project business-as-usual for LCFS credit and deficit generation to 2030. In this paper we use the term business-as-usual frequently, and take it to mean, regarding LCFS credit demand, the continuation of historical trends through the compliance period. For LCFS credit supply, BAU refers to a continuation of current alternative fuel mix trends to 2030. Therefore, the uncertainty in the projections stems from the estimation of BAU demand, which against an assumed steady state of supply, yields a distribution of net deficits accumulate over the period 2019 to 2030, on which we base subsequent analysis.We are interested forecasting demand for fuel and vehicle miles under BAU economic conditions. Demand for fuel and vehicle miles are highly dependent on other economic variables. Demand for both fuel and vehicle miles will be influenced by general economic activity and oil prices. In a booming economy, consumers travel more and purchase more fuel.

Our aim is to fit an econometric model that characterizes past trends in key credit demand variables such as fuel consumption and key input prices for the gasoline and diesel fuel “pools,” namely oil price and soybean prices, vehicle miles traveled, and an indicator of the state economy.The estimates from that model are then used to simulate relationships moving forward to project potential credit demand.We use data available from 1987 to 2018 for the six dependent variables to fit the VEC model. Because our data are measured at the quarterly level, we have a total of 124 observations for each variable.California GSP was collected from the Bureau of Economic Analysis .Theoil prices used in our model are Europe Brent spot prices FOB collected from the Energy Information Administration at the monthly level and aggregated to quarterly averages.We chose to use Brent oil prices rather than West Texas Intermediate prices because Brent prices are more relevant to California markets. Historical vehicle miles traveled on California highways are reported by the California Department of Transportation, CalTrans, at the monthly level.On-highway VMT data are reported in the aggregate, and not divided into gasoline and diesel vehicles.Our model also requires soybean prices, which we collect from the Agricultural Marketing Service at the United States Department of Agriculture .We aggregate monthly spot prices in Central Illinois to quarterly averages to be used in the model. The main variables of interest in our model are gasoline and diesel consumption and VMT in California as we need to forecast BAU fuel demand in order to construct a distribution of LCFS deficits. We collect monthly prime supplier sales volumes for California reformulated gasoline from the EIA.This measure captures all finished gasoline that is consumed in California, including imports to the state. We assume all gasoline is consumed in the transportation sector. Measuring diesel fuel consumption is more nuanced. The EIA reports monthly sales volumes for refiners at each step in the supply chain. We aggregate wholesale and retail sales volumes for No.2 distillate to construct a measure of consumption of No.2 distillate. According to data from the EIA, 99 percent of No.2 distillate is used for diesel fuel in California. Therefore we calculate sales volumes of CARB diesel, which is ultra-low sulfur diesel sold in California, as 99 percent of No.2 distillate sales. The diesel pool, however, comprises biomass based diesel ,vertical grow rack which includes bio-diesel and renewable diesel, as well as petroleum diesel. BBD demand was negligible prior to 2011, but has been increasing in the years since. Therefore, we construct the measure for diesel fuel consumption as the sum of BBD and ULSD. The EIA does not report sales of BBD, so we use volumes reported by CARB in the LCFS quarterly summary, since the years of substantial BBD demand occur in that time period. We aggregate monthly CARB diesel sales from the EIA to quarterly totals and add quarterly volumes of BBD from CARB. The LCFS regulates fuel used in the California transportation sector. Therefore, to accurately estimate the number of deficits generated from CARB diesel using our data, we need to measure the amount of diesel fuel consumed in California that is allocated to the transportation sector. Since 1992, approximately 70% of distillate consumed in California has been used on highway in the transportation sector.We therefore assume, in accordance with our definition of BAU, that 70% of all CARB diesel will be consumed in the transportation sector in each year over the 2019-2030 compliance period.

We are unaware of information that would lead us to believe a divergence from this long term could occur and we don’t consider altering this assumption in this study. Importantly, scaling diesel by a constant has no effect on the coefficient estimates in the VEC model that we use to generate our BAU simulations.The long-run coefficient estimates from the VEC cointegration model appear in Table 9. The three columns in Table 9 correspond to the three cointegrating equations specified in and and the rows to their long-run relationships with GSP, VMT, and the oil price.In the first two equations of Table 9, gasoline and diesel demand in California, the coefficients on the oil price capture the price responsiveness of demand for each fuel.The elasticity for gasoline, on the other hand, is positive but qualitatively small, and statistically insignificant at the 5% level. This may reflect fact that gasoline demand is very inelastic. The coefficients on GSP reflect the income effect. Gasoline and diesel fuel are normal goods and thus should be expected to be positively correlated with income in the state. The coefficient on VMT captures fuel economy improvements as more VMT per gallon implies fewer gallons. Because the VMT measure is not reported by vehicle type, implied fuel efficiency gains in each of the two fuel pools are not discernible. In the next section, we use the long-run coefficient estimates from Table 9, along with the short-run estimates located in the appendix in The estimates of the and Γ matrices from the VEC model in appear in Table A-4.We use the coefficient estimates from the VEC model to predict the distribution for each variable through the compliance period, 2019-2030. Specifically, we simulate 1000 potential values for each variable in each quarter during the compliance period. To this end, we assume that the potential shocks ?! that may occur in the compliance period have the same distribution as the shocks during our estimation sample period, 1987-2018. Using this assumption, we simulate potential future shocks by sampling randomly with replacement from the 1987-2018 shocks. For each random draw, we use the VEC model to generate a hypothetical path for the six variables. We repeat this exercise 1000 times to give us a distribution of potential paths.The hypothetical paths for blended gasoline, diesel, and VMT, simulated using , are described in Figure 17 with the median draw from each year and a 90% point wise confidence interval .In addition to those variables, we calculate the fuel economy of gasoline vehicles that is implied under BAU conditions. To do so, we multiply each VMT projection by the percent estimated in ARB’s EMFAC model to come from gasoline powered vehicles .Then we can express the average fuel economy, measured in miles per gallon , for gasoline vehicles by dividing gasoline VMT in each draw by the number of gallons of CaRFG. The implied fuel economy shown in Figure 17d highlights the range of efficiency gains considered in our simulations over the compliance period. This implied gasoline vehicle economy, derived from EMFAC percentages combined with our projections, is a fleet-wide average for gasoline powered vehicles only, and does not explicitly build in the recent California vehicle efficiency agreement with major automakers to reduce GHG emissions per mile for model years 2022 through 2026.For each variable in our VEC model, the level of future uncertainty grows as we move further into the future. In Figure 17a, 90% of the draws from our sample fall between 14 and 17 billion gallons of CaRFG being consumed in 2030 – a 12 percent increase and 13 percent decrease, respectively, from current levels.

The first contribution of this paper is estimating the extent to which the RIN tax, the LCFS diesel tax, and the CFP diesel tax have been passed through to wholesale diesel prices since 2015. To estimate pass through of the RIN tax, I take the approach used in Knittel et al. which exploits the fact that wholesale diesel and jet fuel prices only differ in their RIN obligation. Their sample covers 2013-2015, whereas mine covers 2015-2021, therefore providing a larger and more recent sample to leverage. I find that refiners, on average, fully passed through the cost of their RIN obligations to wholesale diesel prices over the last six years. The issue of RIN pass through has been of particular interest recently. RFS compliance costs reached an all-time high in 2021, strengthening the already substantial concern of potential harm on consumers and the refining industry, especially amidst a global pandemic. Senator Pat Toomey and his senate colleagues sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency – the administrator of the RFS – asking them to waive or reduce the 2020 volume requirements to mitigate the unduly burden placed on consumers and refiners via RFS compliance costs.EPA responded in kind, reducing the 2020 mandate retroactively in 2021. Still, some in the refining industry have argued that the RFS has made it harder to produce gasoline and diesel domestically, according to a recent article in Reuters. Refiners have indeed seen much larger RFS bills this year; one Pennsylvania refinery had a $350 million RIN obligation in the first three months of 2021, 500% higher than their total 2019 of $58 million.In 2021, refiners paid an implicit tax upwards of 20 cents per gallon of gasoline and diesel. Smaller refiners have been granted exemptions by EPA for their RIN obligations for several years. However,cannabis grow racks prior work suggests that smaller refineries have been able to pass through the cost of their RIN obligations at the same rate as large refineries .

This also comes at a time when gasoline and diesel prices have both reached their highest levels since 2014. The Biden administration has announced that the Department of Energy will release 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to combat the high fuel prices. As of November 2021, the average retail price of diesel is $3.72/gallon and gasoline, $3.49/gallon. The unprecedented growth in RIN prices due to the soybean boom in 2020 and 2021 mentioned above raises speculation as to whether that period is driving any result of incomplete pass through. However, I present results where that period is dropped from the sample and find lower rates of pass through, not higher, especially in San Francisco. In fact, the striking increase in compliance costs during that period were largely passed through in most U.S. regions. Refiners in California and Oregon face an additional cost due to deficit obligations under the LCFS and CFP, respectively. In California, the additional cost is double for diesel; the implicit tax associated with their deficits were also upwards of 20 cents per gallon of diesel under the LCFS. In this paper, I find that refiners have passed through little to none of the LCFS tax to wholesale diesel prices. However, I find that the LCFS tax has been fully passed through to rack prices by blenders, which suggest that refiners have exercised their ability to trade their deficit obligations downstream. This suggests that LCFS compliance costs are borne by retailers and/or consumers. Due to data limitations, I am unable to estimate the pass through of the implicit CFP tax. The second contribution of this paper is estimating the extent to which implicit subsidies from the RFS, LCFS, and CFP are passed through to rack prices of blended diesel. Pass through of RIN subsidies to bio-diesel has been acknowledged but sidestepped in previous work due to data limitations and the unknown interactions of the RFS and the Blender’s Tax Credit .

The BTC awards blenders a $1 tax credit against their federal liability for every gallon of bio-diesel blended in the U.S. and it is realized in addition to the RIN, and the LCFS credit or CFP credit in California and Oregon, respectively. The BTC was implemented in 2005 and expired four times since, but retroactively reinstated each time. When expired, blenders and bio-diesel producers formed contracts to share the expected future credit and had potentially unknown impacts on the blenders’ margins and RIN prices. However, with straightforward assumptions about the BTC, I can identify the pass through of RIN subsidies to blended diesel prices. This subsidy pass-through analysis undertaken here is most like Pouliot et al. in the existing literature, which studies pass through of ethanol RIN subsidies to blended gasoline prices at racks across country. They find incomplete pass through in some regions and attribute it to lack of salience about how the subsidies impacted profit margins. I extend their empirical framework to estimate the pass through of RIN, LCFS, and CFP subsidies to blended bio-diesel prices at fuel terminals in eight U.S. cities. I utilize daily pricing data from the Oil Price Information Service and Bloomberg on rack prices and spot prices of diesel, bio-diesel, RINs, and LCFS and CFP credits to calculate daily profit margins for blenders. If a subsidy is fully passed through, blenders’ profit margins should move one-for-one with changes in said subsidy. There are significant heterogeneities in the pass through of bio-diesel subsidies across space, time, and policy. RIN subsidy pass-through is complete in the Midwest, incomplete on the West Coast, Gulf Coast, and East Coast. These results are somewhat consistent with Pouliot et al., ; they find incomplete pass-through only in the eastern U.S. This was due to an extreme event at the end of their sample in 2015 — the Exxon Mobil refinery explosion in California. My sample follows the explosion and accounts for the LCFS, allowing for more precise estimates of pass through on the West Coast. The finding that pass through is still incomplete on the East Coast may suggest that incomplete RIN subsidy pass through stems from a mechanism other than lack of salience.

As with pass through of the RIN tax, pass through of the RIN subsidy is less complete when dropping the time period with the shock to RIN prices. LCFS subsidies exhibited significantly less variation over my sample, making it difficult to recover precise estimates of pass through. However, I find that, on average none, of the LCFS subsidy is passed through to rack prices of blended diesel in California urban centers. In smaller California cities, complete pass through of the LCFS subsidy pass cannot be ruled out. After the LCFS subsidy grew to significant levels, pass through was lower, indicating lack of salience wouldn’t explain the results of incomplete pass through. LCFS subsidy pass through is lower for blends with higher bio-diesel content, which is consistent with market power in higher blends . CFP subsidy pass through is estimated even less precisely but the findings resemble a similar pattern as the LCFS. Taken together, the results outlined above can be summarized as follows. The RFS largely operates as intended in the diesel sector, however, findings are consistent with local market power in fuel blending on the coasts. With incomplete pass through of RIN subsidies in some markets and complete pass through of the tax, it may be that blenders are raising RFS compliance costs for consumers. California and Oregon exhibit less than complete RIN subsidy and LCFS subsidy pass through,cannabis drying racks which suggest blenders exercise local market power. On average, only 68 percent and 66 percent of the combined subsidies are passed through in California and Oregon, respectively. The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. Section 1.1 provides background information and institutional context on the RFS, LCFS, CFP, and the. Section 1.2 describes markets for diesel and biomass-based diesel. Section 1.3 describes the data used to execute the empirical strategy. Section 1.4 describes the empirical strategy for and presents results from estimating pass through of the implicit taxes from the RFS, LCFS, and CFP. Section 1.5 describes the empirical strategy for and presents results from estimating pass through of the implicit subsidies from the RFS, LCFS, and CFP. Section 1.6 concludes and discusses policy implications of the findings.The RFS was enacted in the 2005 Energy Policy Act and was revised and expanded as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, sometimes referred to as RFS2. The RFS is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and specifies a fraction of U.S. petroleum transportation fuel consumption that must be displaced by renewable fuels. Using projections of gasoline and diesel consumption from the Energy Information Administration , the mandate is communicated as a volume of renewable fuels for the upcoming two years. These volumetric mandates are called Renewable Volume Obligations . RVOs are set separately each for conventional , advanced , BBD , and cellulosic categories.

Refiners or fuel importers, the obligated parties under the RVO, can either produce biofuels or purchase credits, called Renewable Identification Numbers , generated from the production of renewable fuels. Each refiner must retire a certain number of each type of RIN each year for each gallon of gasoline or diesel that they sell. For example, in 2018, for every 100 gallons of gasoline or diesel sold, refineries had to retire a total of 10.67 RINs, including at least 2.37 advanced biofuel RINs, 1.74 bio-diesel RINs, and 0.16 cellulosic RINs. The remaining 8.14 RINs that must be retired can be of any category, but typically come from corn ethanol RINs and BBD RINs. Corn ethanol is the lowest-cost renewable fuel, however the E10 blendwall forces the market to use the next lowest-cost option, BBD, for much of the conventional RVO. Since refiners must purchase RINs for every gallon of gasoline and diesel they sell, RINs act as a tax that is used to subsidize renewable fuels. The magnitude of the taxes and subsidies depend on the economics of the underlying fuel markets. Since each category relies on different types of renewable fuels, each type of RIN has its own market price. Generally, the market price for each type of RIN reflects the expected cost of supplying the marginal gallon of the relevant renewable fuel needed to meet the RVO, relative to the cost of gasoline or diesel. Since advanced and cellulosic biofuels are much more expensive than conventional biofuels, the market price for their RINs are relatively expensive. Since BBD has been used to satisfy the conventional RVO, the market price for D6 RINs have converged to the market price for D4 RINs. RINs can be traded freely before being retired for annual compliance, and 20 percent of RINs generated in one year can be banked compliance in the next year. In an efficient RIN market, these features cause future expectations around fuel markets and policy to influence RIN prices. Lade et al., show that RIN prices follow a random walk and respond quickly to EPA announcements that change expectations around future compliance. The point of policy incidence is at the fuel terminal for the RFS. The fuel terminal is the midpoint in the supply chain of RINs. Renewable fuel producers generate RINs with every gallon of renewable fuel they supply. When RINs are generated, they are “attached” to the renewable fuel, meaning that whoever purchases that fuel receive the RIN certificate with the purchase. Terminals purchase the renewable fuels with the attached RINs and blends the renewable fuel with petroleum, which separates the RIN from the fuel. When the RIN is separated, it can be traded freely. When blenders separate RINs, they sell them to refiners who must retire RINs to EPA for compliance. Since blenders can sell RINs once separated, they are willing to pay a premium for renewable fuels. Figure 1 shows the movement of fuel and RINs through the supply chain in the context of diesel.RINs can be generated by domestic BBD producers, foreign BBD producers, and domestic BBD importers. The majority of bio-diesel consumed in the U.S. is produced domestically. In 2016, nearly a quarter of bio-diesel was imported, however in recent years imports fell below an eighth of total consumption – 10 percent in 2020. Almost no RINs generated from U.S. bio-diesel consumption are awarded to foreign producers.