When I found this article/picture, I showed it to my wife and I told her that the bees aren’t sensitive to the cannabinoids so they aren’t affected like humans are. I said it was a good thing because if they were ‘buzzed’ they might not be able to find the weed field again. She said, “C’mon babe, you know you never forget where you get good weed at.”
A recent study published in the Environmental Entomology found that thousands of bees in the U.S. are now using hemp crops as a critical nutritional resource.
Bees have experienced dramatic habitat loss over recent decades, but researchers believe that newly planted hemp crops could become a vital aspect of the insects' future.
“Because of its temporally unique flowering phenology, hemp has the potential to provide a critical nutritional resource to a diverse community of bees during a period of floral scarcity and thereby may help to sustain agroecosystem-wide pollination services for other crops in the landscape.”
Despite the bees’ undeniable chemistry with the wonder plant, it would appear they mightn’t be attracted for the same reasons as humans. Bees do not have any cannabinoid receptors, the key ingredient necessary to get buzzed from the chemicals present in marijuana.
Bees are attracted to bright and colorful plants with sweet nectar, which would typically be found in flowers. This leaves many to speculate which bees are choosing cannabis, which is neither bright nor sweet.
The study is crucial for several reasons, as by introducing marijuana crops next to fruit and vegetable crops, it could increase the cross-pollination that would stimulate growth for both crops. Also, hemp doesn’t require lots of water or pesticides. This in turn can also create a healthier ecosystem for bees to re-populate in.
Researchers from Cornell University observed bees in 11 hemp farms in New York State. They observed hundreds of bees collecting pollen from hemp plants. The study showed the crops were supporting 16 different species of bees.
The researchers are asking farmers to consider bees when implementing pest control measures hoping farmers will avoid pesticides that could harm bees.
Bees do not have cannabinoid receptors to interact with the plant, so it is highly unlikely the compounds would have any effect on the bees' development.
New research shows that the neuroprotective properties of cannabis could help protect honey bees from toxic pesticides.
Honeybee populations are on the decline all across the globe, largely due to contamination from pesticides used on standard agricultural crops. The ramifications of this ecological threat extend far beyond bees and honey. Honeybees are responsible for pollinating over $15 billion worth of fruits, vegetables, and nuts per year in the US alone, and without them, the world could face a serious food shortage.
A team of researchers from Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland are working to find a way to help bees survive. Under the leadership of Professor Aneta Ptaszyńska, the team has discovered several unique methods to extend bees' longevity, including probiotics, adaptogenic plant extracts, and cannabis extracts.
“Bees are dying because they are malnourished and weakened by the use of pesticides and then they start to suffer from various diseases,” said Professor Ptaszyńska to The First News. “One of them is nosemosis. It attacks the digestive system, causes weakness and cachexia (muscle loss). Bees cannot digest and absorb nutrients and then they simply die.”
Recent research has linked the increasingly fast decline in bee populations to neonicotinoids, pesticides derived from nicotine. These pesticides work well at protecting crops from pests, but also poison helpful insects, including honey bees. Despite these dangers, most government agencies still allow these pesticides to be used. In the US, the Trump administration has recently allowed farmers to expand their usage of several pesticides that are known to be toxic to bees.
Professor Ptaszyńska and her team studied 5,000 bees living in cages to determine whether hemp-derived cannabis extracts could help protect bees from the damaging effects of pesticides. “There are reports that hemp extract protects human nerve cells, we decided to check whether it would be the same in the case of a bee,” the professor explained to The First News.
The researchers discovered that specific cannabis extracts protected the bees from some of the negative effects of neonicotinoids. “For now, we know that the extract extends the life of bees that have been exposed to pesticides,” said Ptaszyńska. “The tested insects lived comparatively as long as those that had never had contact with harmful substances.”
The researchers are now planning additional studies to see if cannabis can also help save bees that are living in apiaries in other parts of Europe. If successful, the team hopes to patent their specific cannabis formula and make it available to beekeepers around the world.