

Our work group #LaCanapaGood continues its activities and collects new members. The new participants are two analytical laboratories and one of the first associations of patients using medical cannabis.
The Good Hemp is the project shared and started as early as 2016, by the authors of this article. At the end of 2019 this working group was made official in Égalité, which is open to all the protagonists of the supply chain interested in promoting sustainable development. The evolution of the mandatory rules is observed and voluntary shared standards are developed, starting with the agronomic and analytical protocols. (1)
The goals de #LaCanapaBuona concern the elaboration of a supply chain standard, to be shared with the social partners concerned and the authorities, which consider each production phase. From the selection of the seeds to the management of the THC in the extraction phase, up to the validation of the final products. With the prospect, among other things, of promoting the inclusion of varieties with higher yields in CBD and other cannabinoids, in the EU register of authorized plants.
Quality control is a crucial element in the activities involving the Cannabis Sativa L., as it should be in every food and herbalist field in particular. Our attention is first of all aimed at verifying the absence of physical contaminants (eg heavy metals), chemical (eg residues of pesticides and other agrotoxicants, mycotoxins) in the incoming raw materials. And the actual contents of the various cannabinoids, in biomass as well as in oils and extracts.
The analyzes carried out according to a specific protocol, as we have seen, are valid to exclude the risks of counterfeiting and adulteration of anhydrous extracts, crystals, CBD powders (cannabidiol) with chemical synthesis molecules. An increasingly current fraud, in the price war that still animates the purchase criteria of many distributors. And it is precisely to guarantee the authenticity and quality of products from intact supply chains that La Canapa Buona is about to introduce the technology of blockchain public offer from Wise Chain. (2)
A system of ring test - that is, interlaboratory circuit tests aimed at evaluating the reproducibility and reliability of the analytical data (mean value, error, etc.) - was organized by our group in the CIACSI (Interlaboratory Circuit Analysis of Hemp Sativa Italy).
I Best laboratories of Pistoia and Analysis Service in Verona, in particular, are developing an interlaboratory analysis circuit on cannabinoids (CBD, delta 9 THC, etcL.).
The issues to be addressed, at the analytical laboratory level, there are essentially three:
- standardize the nomenclature and methods of analysis, starting from the criteria of dilution of the solvent and calibration line,
- clarify the duty of laboratories to report to clients the relevance of any discrepancies found (e.g. non-compliance with legal requirements, indications of fraud),
- underline the incompatibility between analysis for third parties and the production of extracts.
Il Medical Cannabis Patients Committee is in turn welcome to the La Canapa Buona group set up at Égalité. The Committee was created to promote research on role of phytoendocannabinoids in the treatment of a number of diseases.
The mission of the Committee is to encourage the sharing of scientific bibliography, observational studies and experiences to facilitate the meeting and training of doctors, pharmacists and patients. And to stimulate the adoption of coherent policies, in the various Regions, capable of guaranteeing patients access to treatments based on phytocannabinoids. Without forcing patients to rely on the uncertainties of the illegal market to obtain treatments that should instead be provided continuously by the National Health Service.
Dario Dongo and Alessio Gaggiotti
Note
(1) Dario Dongo. CBD, Italian protocol for the analysis of the authenticity of products. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 26.4.20/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/innovazione/cbd-protocollo-italiano-per-l-analisi-di-autenticità-dei-prodotti
(2) Dario Dongo, Gianluca Mascellino. Public blockchain, Noberasco at the start with Wiise Chain. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 11.11.20/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/innovazione/blockchain-pubblica-noberasco-al-via-con-wiise-chain

Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.