Worldwide acceptance of cannabis hinges on these two points: Quality & Reliable controls
March 6, 2019
By Web Master
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On January 18 2019 the European Parliament drafted a resolution on “use of cannabis for medicinal purposes”. In so doing, it challenged the often diverse, lackadaisical, and often absent quality assurance, record keeping, and in some jurisdictions, common sense with respect to ensuring cannabis tracking, quality, and batch repeatability.
On February 1, 2019 the World Health Organization (WHO) called for recommendations with respect to cannabis medical usefulness”.
Following
this report, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) on March 5, 2019
issues a warning that many countries are simply ill prepared to meet
international pharmaceutical grade medical guidelines, let alone, international
import / export requirements. In
summary, the INCB announced that Worldwide,
the acceptance of cannabis hinges on these two points:
Control
of cannabis production and supply.
Reliable
medicines are provided under medical supervision.
Control means
security and traceability. More
specifically, control means the ability to prevent the diversion of cannabis out of a facility,
and prevention of outside cannabis from coming into the facility and being
processed as legal product.
Failure to meet this requirement will likely result in the failure of the business due to suspension and or loss of license. As with the example of Ascent Industries Corp., which as alleged by Health Canada, failed control over security and traceability has recently filed for bankruptcy protection.
TheraCann has been a strong proponent of ensuring that each batch of cannabis produced can demonstrate consistency to the last batch, free of contaminants, of high quality and low cost. With regards to mitigating the risk associated with diversion, TheraCann through its ETCH biotrace DNA taggant technology offers the most secure tracking available for cannabis, allowing the trace of every gram of product from seed to sale.
Medicinal quality
means a repeatable result from a clean-grown product. A dose must be a dose,
and the exact chemical makeup must be known and proven. The pharmaceutical
standard includes test prior to release for a long list of microbial and
chemical contaminants, which must be within accepted tolerance limits for human
consumption. Under Eudralex Annex 7, the agricultural production, collection,
and every step of processing, must meet the clean standard and provide records
not only in final testing, but in the handling from seed to final product.
Failure to meet this
requirement creates product ineligible for legal markets.
Medicinal quality is the only cannabis that is eligible for import and export in many jurisdictions including Canada, the licensed countries in the EU, Australia and New Zealand. Regulations will set the standard, but that is not enough for acceptance. Companies that purchase medical grade cannabis often insist on a certified producer provide verifiable evidence of ongoing compliance in the processes, from Good Agricultural / Production Practices, and Good Manufacturing Practices. For example, requiring the profile of cannabinoid, terpene, and flavanoid for each shipment and delivery. This has become far more important now that we know there are are currently 66 different cannabinoids of which THC and CBD only make up 2, over 400 identified terpens that are known to cause the cannabis “entourage effect“, and currently 20 flavanoids that are known to be prevalent in cannabis. Counting only THC and CBD without confirming the remaining cannabinoids, terpenes and flavanoids will often result in batches that are more like “apples” to “rocks” and result in patient reports of inconsistent results and / or negative effects.
In order to ensure “apples to apples” batch results, TheraCann through its TheraCannSOLUTION full turn-key offering, that includes its vertically integrated BenchmarkACT, BenchmarkBUILD, BenchmarkGROW, BenchmarkMARKET and BenchmarkINSIGHT services in conjunction with its Sprout A.I. vertical grow technologies and OS2 enterprise resource and compliance (ERP+C) software provides solutions for repeatable and contamination free indoor cultivation and processing and compliance to the highest pharmaceutical standards and certification.
