It marked the first time the company registered to lobby on cannabis in the United States, either at the state or federal level. In 2021, Cannabis Wire found that Altria registered to lobby on cannabis in Virginia, its home state. That year, as Cannabis Wire first reported, Altria became the first big tobacco company to register to lobby on hemp at the federal level. Altria did not respond to a request for comment.Īltria’s entry into cannabis made headlines in 2019 when it acquired a significant stake in Cronos, a Canadian cannabis company. Taken together, these patent applications provide the clearest picture yet of Altria’s interests and priorities when it comes to future cannabis products. “One way to increase the amount of secondary metabolite production in plants is to increase the density of trichomes present on the plant epidermis.”Īnd a third related application is titled “Tissue-specific promoters in plants.” The connection to the others? “Due to the important role of glandular trichomes in the biosynthesis and secretion of terpenoids, there is a need for the identification of trichome-preferred, or trichome-specific, promoters and associated cis-regulatory elements,” it reads. “The amount of secondary metabolites produced is often tightly correlated to the glandular trichome density present on the plant epidermis,” it continues. Why might Altria care about terpenes? “Terpenoid levels in plants such as tobacco and Cannabis can be enhanced and modified by targeted manipulation of gene expression of genes in terpene biosynthetic pathways in order to improve flavor and aroma characteristics of downstream plant-based products,” the application reads.Ī related application is titled “Increasing trichome density and improving transport of metabolites in plant trichomes.” How is this related to terpenes? “Terpenoids constitute the largest and most diverse class of plant metabolites,” the application reads. One application, titled “Terpene production in plants,” filed by Altria Client Services LLC, which is headquartered in Virginia, and University of Virginia Patent Foundation, details the “composition and methods for the modification of the secondary metabolic functions of glandular trichomes in plants, such as tobacco or Cannabis, that control the formation of terpenes that impart specific flavor and aroma characteristics to the plant leaves are provided.”Ĭannabis consumers who note the pine or citrus smells and flavors of their cannabis buds are, in fact, talking about the terpenes. More specifically, on its “flavor and aroma characteristics.” While the company has for years filed patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) related to vaporizer technology, including several that mention cannabis as well as tobacco, three related applications published on August 4 focus explicitly on the cannabis plant. Tobacco giant Altria continues to carve out its place in the cannabis industry.
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