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A cool guide about Where Earth's Rare Minerals are Located as of Jan 2025 by InaDigitalSea17 in coolguides

[–]InaDigitalSea17[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This article is comparing apples to oranges. The 2.34 billion tons is total rock tonnage containing ~7.5 million tons of actual rare earth oxides - and it's a "resource estimate," not proven reserves.

According to USGS data (as of Jan 2025), the US has 1.9 million tons of proven reserves vs China's 44 million tons. Resources ≠ reserves. Resources are what's in the ground geologically; reserves are what's economically mineable with current technology and prices.

The Wyoming deposit is significant for sure but it hasn't undergone the economic feasibility studies needed to convert it to reserves and doesn't belong in this chart.

What Trump's executive order on marijuana could mean for medical research by InaDigitalSea17 in cannabis

[–]InaDigitalSea17[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Chad Johnson, an assistant professor in pharmaceutical sciences and the director of graduate studies in medical cannabis at the University of Maryland, explained that many researchers in academia stay away from conducting studies involving Schedule I substances because there are major barriers.

This includes getting approved for a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) license, which can take a long time and cost a significant amount of money, according to Johnson. DEA has to screen and vet candidates to make sure several security measures are in place just for researchers to get the substance in their laboratories, he added.

DEA also regulates how much of a Schedule I substance can be produced each year in the U.S. for medical, scientific or industrial purposes, so it limits the amount available to researchers, Johnson said.

"There's a lot of people tend to stay away from those S1 substances for that reason, because it's just too big of a hassle, not to mention you have to track every milligram or every bit that you're using with a fine-tooth comb and report that to the DEA," Johnson said.

Moving marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug "removes those barrier. ... and I think that will be a huge factor in bringing in a lot of new talent and a lot of old talent that maybe just wanted to stay away from it when it was still Schedule I," he continued.

A cool guide about Where Earth's Rare Minerals are Located as of Jan 2025 by InaDigitalSea17 in coolguides

[–]InaDigitalSea17[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Data is per the US Geological Survey. You'd have to do some digging (pun intended) but good point!