Researchers funded by the federal government have developed new methods to distinguish between marijuana and hemp. They do this by measuring the exact level of THC present in edibles and flower.
The National Institute of Justice, which is a part of the Justice Department’s division, has released the results of a pair of research projects that it funded on cannabis laboratory testing. It is sharing these with selected law enforcement agencies.
The initiatives were designed to simplify the testing process and help reduce crime lab backlogs, which have risen since hemp with up to 0.3 per cent THC was legalized federally under the 2018 Farm Bill. This has complicated cannabis-related crimes.
In a Tuesday update, NIJ stated that current testing methods cannot “measure the exact amounts of THC in a given sample.” Researchers they have funded discovered that using two types of mass spectrometry, they can now isolate THC and other cannabinoids.
A team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology developed the GC-MS technique. The team was able to extract THC and use the test to determine the exact content of cannabinoids. DOJ announced for the first time in 2020 that they would grant $350,000 to NIST in funding .
DART-HRMS could also help solve another problem that has arisen in forensic laboratories. Researchers were able to measure the THC content in baked goods, candies and beverages as well as plant material with minimal pretreatment.
NIJ stated that Rabi Musah is the leader of the DART HRMS team. “We anticipate the increased speed using DART HRMS to detect THC could reduce backlogs in sample testing and chemical reagent cost and streamline sample analyses protocols.”
The NIST GC-MS has already been used to create new standard operating procedures in labs. Its results have also been incorporated into the training of the Montgomery County Police Department, as well as the Maryland State Police.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a request for proposals in 2022 to find portable marijuana analysers that could quickly identify cannabinoid profile and distinguish between hemp and marijuana.
Since hemp was legalized, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), a separate agency, announced that they were seeking a device that would “provide specificity in distinguishing between marijuana and hemp”.
Since the legalization of hemp in Texas, marijuana prosecutions have dropped by more than half. Since hemp legalization, prosecutors in the state have dismissed hundreds of low level cannabis cases. In 2020, officials announced that the Department of Public Safety would not accept misdemeanor cases for testing.
While hemp industry stakeholders in the U.S. and agricultural officials are calling on Congress to triple THC limits for the crop, to one percent dry weight. A Justice Department researcher questioned recently the logic behind the current THC limit of 0.3 percent, saying that it seemed to be based on an old anecdote.
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Photo by Brendan Cleak.
The post Federally Funded Researchers Develop Two New Methods To Distinguish Hemp From Marijuana to Assist Crime Labs first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
