How Cannabis and Opium Poppies Became National Security Issues

After supply chain disruptions that made critical medicines scarce, a federal effort is underway to ensure domestic stocks of pharmaceutical ingredients.

Never mind that everyone calls him Groovy, or that the company he oversees — Bright Green — is preparing to grow cannabis and opium poppies inside greenhouses on the high desert of New Mexico. Gurvinder Singh would like it known that his business is a rigorous scientific enterprise.

Mr. Singh spends much of his time straining to dislodge the assumption that his company is part of the wave of retail marijuana shops popping up in many communities in the wake of legalization in many states. His 70-acre farm will be centered on producing raw materials for pharmaceuticals that use cannabis, opioids and additional medicinal plants to treat pain, depression and anxiety.

Bright Green has secured a rare license from the Drug Enforcement Administration to grow otherwise-illegal crops for use in research and the manufacture of federally approved medicines. The company, which hopes to start operating by early next year, has positioned itself to bolster American self-sufficiency in an age of growing concern over the vulnerability of critical supply chains.

Just as the Biden administration has subsidized the construction of computer chip and electric vehicle factories to limit dependence on foreign suppliers, it has focused on increasing domestic production of the ingredients needed to make pharmaceuticals. President Biden included that objective as a matter of national security in a 2021 executive order aimed at protecting Americans from shortages of crucial products.

“It’s kind of scary to think that all your medicines, the active ingredients come from so many different countries,” Mr. Singh, 47, said. “We want to be able to bring the supply chain back to the United States.”