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National Institute of Justice highlights NIJ-funded research on quick THC tests.
The National Institute of Justice highlighted NIJ-funded research on quick THC tests in an article published yesterday called “New Forensic Methods to Accurately Determine THC in Seized Cannabis.”
“As a result of the Farm Bill, forensic laboratories must measure the exact amount of THC in seized evidence to differentiate hemp from marijuana. In 2022, more than 10% of all submissions to crime labs were to determine marijuana versus hemp,” the NIJ wrote.
“Thus, a new problem emerged for already backlogged crime labs. How could labs perform such precise measurements quickly and easily when few labs had the personnel, instrumentation, and protocols to do so?”
Two NIJ-supported labs sought to solve the issue through two types of mass spectrometry that can “measure the exact amount of THC present in a sample”: gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and direct analysis in real time-high-resolution mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS).
The goal of this work, NIJ wrote, is to develop “simple, robust, and cost-effective method to distinguish hemp from marijuana for local, state, and federal forensic laboratories.”
What’s next for the European Union Drugs Agency?
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), a decentralized EU agency that informs policymakers on drugs, will become the European Union Drugs Agency this summer. Last week, the agency released its “work programme” for 2024-26, which, it notes, is “the very last to be launched by the agency in its current form” and which marks “the most transformative period in the life of the agency to date.”
The report references the rapidly changing cannabis landscape, both in Europe and globally.
It points to adult use reform efforts in Malta, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, and Czechia, and notes that “these developments in the European cannabis market are taking place within a global context of countries increasingly exploring alternatives for prohibition and some moving towards regulated or legalised recreational cannabis markets.”
In response to this, the agency says it will “scale up its focus on developing resources in the area of cannabis policies and interventions.”
“In recent years,” the agency says, it has “provided support to national initiatives, specifically with cannabis indicator development and monitoring of the impact of cannabis policy changes in this area” because “appropriate data infrastructure and good baseline data are needed to monitor change and to estimate the impact of regulatory changes on public health and the illicit market.”
Looking into the coming years, the agency says it will expand its work on cannabis “by building the foundations for a cannabis policy toolkit, which will include practical tools to set up a robust baseline measurement as well as tools and resources to support policymakers with the implementation of evidence-based decisions in the cannabis policy field.”
Its specific “outputs” in 2024 will include a “cannabis policy web page centred around frequently asked questions on cannabis policy and an update of the 2020 report Monitoring and evaluating changes in cannabis policies: insights from the Americas.”
Further, it plans to distribute a “support package” to “better assist policymakers and planners with cannabis policy development and evaluation in their countries.” And, finally, with regard to “inter-agency collaboration on cannabis issues,” it plans to “continue to meet with other agencies, including the EMA, EFSA and the Community Plant Variety Office, to discuss and exchange views on recent developments in the cannabis area and on where and how cannabis products have already featured in the work of the agencies.”
+ More: in September, the agency hosted a panel on reforms across Europe, as Cannabis Wire reported at the time. In case you missed it, you can check it out here.
USDA report includes specific hemp data for the first time.
This week, the United States Department of Agriculture published its latest Census of Agriculture, a report that is released every five years. For the first time, it includes specific data on hemp.
“Hemp for fiber”
• 215 farms spanned 5,841 acres and harvested 11,130,699 lbs
• The state that produced the most was Missouri
“Hemp for floral (CBD and other cannabinoid usage)”
• 1,893 farms spanned 10,557 acres and harvested 11,044,422 lbs
• The state that produced the most (by far) was California
“Hemp for grain”
• 70 farms spanned 3,164 acres and harvested 886,702 lbs
• The state that produced the most was North Dakota
“Other hemp usage”
• 125 farms spanned 196 acres and harvested 215,744 lbs
• The state that produced the most was Texas
