The Ethical Data Alliance is a collection of breeders, growers, supply chain operators, researchers, geneticists, doctors, lawyers, software developers, writers and advocates who support the open study and understanding of cannabis and all medicinal plants. Many of us fought hard to change the laws surrounding cannabis in the United States and abroad and have learned valuable lessons about how traditional business models suppress the type of education and diversity surrounding this medicinal plant that thrived during Prohibition. 

Pre-regulation cannabis markets supported a supply chain composed of a larger number of smaller farmers rather than a smaller number of larger farms. Thanks to this diversity of product, plant and people the underground cannabis industry was once driven by innovation, competition and the pursuit of knowledge. 

As cannabis markets were legalized, they were consolidated by law. The diversity of business ownership dwindled. The diversity of genetics in the supply chain dwindled. The economic opportunities for small economies disappeared. Worse yet, data that could further our understanding of the cannabis plant and its human effects has been hoarded in silos owned by for-profit companies. 

The Ethical Data Alliance recognizes that we must preserve and encourage the growth of diversity of the cannabis plant and the people who interact with it. In these diverse interactions we also generate the best usable data to begin decoding the cannabis plant while also creating a roadmap for the decentralized and equitable sharing and study of all medicinal plants and fungi.