Cannabis benefits bees, and this is good news for humans

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If bee populations were on the decline, cannabis could bring them back

As the world’s most important pollinators, bumblebees are the focus on a lot of studies that aim to find a solution for the species’ continuous reduction in population. If they become extinct, most likely every other creature will, too. A recent study focused its attention on discovering which are those plants that bees rather eat in an effort to promote bee conservation. According to the study’s findings published on Tuesday in the journal Environmental Entomology, there are three plants that bees are most attracted to – Oregon checker-mallow, mountain pennyroyal flowers, and cannabis. The quickly expanding marijuana production can signify cultivation that can be done without any insecticide, this leads to relevant increases in the amount of pollen.

The investigation was led by the Plumas National Forest in California — an area full of diversity, with running water sources in which bees are abundant — during the summer months of 2015 and 2016. Researchers were able to capture bumble bees on several plant species across the 400 plots present in this forest. The first group included 14 plants from which the top three were selected.

Many plants important to humans rely on bees to pollinate to produce the most nutritious foods; however, sadly, the bees’ population continues to decline. Beekeepers in the US reported a 44% reduction in their colonies. Cannabis can provide a constant source of food for these now treasured insects.

In a different study, researchers from New York concluded that cannabis crops bring benefits to fight the declining bee populations. This is great news, as cannabis plants don’t need insecticides when grown, which is one of the biggest factors affecting bees. “As an exclusively wind-pollinated crop, hemp lacks nectar but produces an abundance of pollen during a period of floral dearth in agricultural landscapes,” said the report published in the Oxford University Press.