Steep Hill Labs will bring its talents to Israel, announcing that the company has entered into a joint venture with iCAN: Israel-Cannabis. The partnership will see Steep Hill open an analytical, genetic, and research and development lab in Israel to further cannabis research.
“We believe that Israel is the epicenter of cannabis research and development,” Steep Hill CEO Jmichaele Keller said in a press release. “We look forward to its role in leading the evolution of medical cannabis worldwide.”
The announcement was made at Israel’s medical cannabis conference CannaTech, during which Steep Hill also announced their Xcerpa technology that allows long-term storage of cannabis DNA. The technology “impregnates” a card with a cannabis DNA sample that allows it to be legally transported globally. The technology will allow researchers in both the U.S. and Israel to access and research the genetic information contained on the cards.
“We’re doing more research in Israel than anywhere else. We have destigmatized cannabis and we have a medical approach to cannabis,” Saul Kayem co-founder of iCAN said during his remarks at the conference. “We’re seeing medicalization and we’re seeing reform happening quicker than anywhere else. It might take two years, it might take five years, but it will happen.”
Steep Hill opened the first commercial cannabis lab in the U.S. in 2008 and was named by Wealth Daily as one of the top 5 legal cannabis companies to watch this year.