I cultivated an innovative new strain of weed. Can I patent it?
Yes, you probably can.
The first weed strain patent was issued last August to a group of California breeders. This raised some eyebrows, and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has since confirmed that it is processing both plant and utility patent applications for individual varieties of cannabis (and also poppy). To acquire a plant patent, your weed strain must simply have a distinct characteristic. To acquire a utility patent, however, it must be new and non-obvious as compared to existing strains. It also must exhibit different characteristics from weed in its natural state. Aside from that, one USPTO spokesperson recently assured a Vice magazine journalist that "there are no special statutory requirements of restrictions applied to marijuana plants." So, there you have it.
People tend to have strong feelings about patents, and about cannabis patents in particular. Specifically, they argue that patents hurt competition and inflate prices; create monopolies and extortionate secondary markets; and stifle innovation more than promote it. In the case of weed, people fear that the plant will become locked down by the likes of Monsanto, big tobacco, and big pharma, who would all play rough in the patent sandbox. Those rumors were so persistent that Monsanto felt compelled on April 19 to tweet, "Tomorrow is 4/20. FYI: Monsanto has not & is not working on GMO marijuana." Big tobacco has said the same. So maybe there is time for you yet.