None of it came easy. With federal funding off-limits, we relied on state initiatives, private partnerships and creativity to move our work forward. Cannabis research, like much scientific progress, has often grown from the margins, fueled by persistence and a belief that knowledge is worth chasing even when the system says otherwise. There wasn’t a road map for what we were doing. We were building it as we went. In many ways, that is how cannabis science has always advanced: through grassroots efforts, passionate researchers and a stubborn belief that the plant deserved serious, unbiased study.