Since the 1990s, Monsanto has been recognized as the company behind genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Only within the turn of the century have people started to see the issues said GMOs bring, particularly through easy access to information via internet. The Inquisitr reported the latest news as a result of the general public learning the fallacies of GMOs. This includes the fact Monsanto is losing a lot of money through lawsuits, especially over GMO wheat. Not only that, but certain countries — Russia for example — are completely banning GMOs altogether.

Despite the opposition Monsanto receives from the public, there are many others, especially those in places of authority, who back the GMO-supporting company. Now there are reports that argue the only reason for the push for marijuana legalization is so Monsanto could unleash GMO marijuana upon the masses.

According to Natural Society, there is talk among the organic communities that Monsanto has been working on GMO marijuana for years now. Among this talk, it is believed the GMO marijuana is ready to go thus why the government has pushed legalizing marijuana. Apparently, the allegations are hypothesized from what is happening in Uruguay, the first country to fully legalize marijuana. VICE actually sent José Mujica to Uruguay to learn more about how full marijuana legalization has affected the country.

As explained in the video above, there are pros and cons seen in accordance to legalizing marijuana for Uruguay. The people who support the pros seem to stand on selfish means as in growing their own plants, smoking their own weed, and even smoking better weed. Ergo, they do not see the cons of registering with the government, the limitations of how much they can grow, or even what kind of weed they can get from recognized/registered pharmacies. And this is where the stigma for GMO marijuana comes into play.

If the United States were to legalize marijuana from sea to shining sea, what regulations would be incorporated into said legalization? Also, who would benefit the most from legal marijuana? To understand the answer to these questions, it should be known that GMO companies like Monsanto, DuPont, and Dow Chemical (not farmers) benefit from two of the major crops in the United State, corn and soybeans. About 88 percent of all corn and 94 percent of all soy has been genetically modified, as reported by Phys Org.

The one detail purposely left out in the previous paragraph about corn and soybeans is they are major cash crops, used in almost everything made conventionally as ingredients. Companies like Monsanto, DuPont, and Dow Chemical see marijuana as the next big cash crop after corn and soybeans. As a matter of fact, former Microsoft executive, Jamen Shively, previously announced plans back in 2013 to patent in the U.S. the first national brand of produced hemp imported from Mexico prior to countrywide legalization, as reported by Expanded Consciousness.

Eventually, others will follow Jamen Shively’s footsteps possibly purchasing patents on certain strains of marijuana so only their version of it can be grown in the United States. Now it is true much of the news reporting on GMO marijuana push it as a possibility and not an eventuality. However, they are basing a lot of their assumptions on past practices of pro-GMO companies, such as what they did to milk for example.

[Image via David Ryder/Getty]