Cannabis Support Grows Within American Chemical Society
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]C[/dropcap]annabis chemists scored a major victory Tuesday within the American Chemical Society (ACS). The cannabis chemistry committee, established in September 2014 via a petition by Ezra Pryor, has been upgraded to a subdivision of ACS. This change was mainly fueled by exceptional growth within the medical and commercial cannabis industries within the US.
“The cannabis subdivision represents another important milestone in the professionalization of cannabis science,” said Steph Sherer, ASA’s executive director. “The approval allows us to work with America’s top chemists to promote the harmonization cannabis laboratory regulations and create effective and precise standards so that patients can have confidence in their medicine. ”
The Subdivision will now be a part of the chemical health and safety (CHAS) division. CHAS focuses on chemical safety, laboratory procedure, and chemical management. This will provide a larger platform by which the new subdivision can establish standard safety procedures and educate those in the cannabis testing industry.
Currently, cannabis testing labs have no formally standardized procedure or uniformity across the board, and it has created a major safety concern. Lab testing facilities have quickly grown from just 2 in 2011, to over 24 currently. Each lab has its own testing methods, procedures, and menu of services. For example, Greg Magdoff, Founder of Pharmlabs in San Diego, explains major differences among pesticide testing.
“At Pharmlabs, we are concerned with patient safety. Therefore, we decided to offer pesticide screening for over 200 compounds of interest. Most other labs only test for around 10 or so, and that is a major concern for the industry.”
The cannabis chemistry subdivision will continue to distribute content for national ACS meetings, host networking events, provide educational materials, and organize training programs.
The American Chemical Society, with over 150,000 members, is the largest scientific society in the world.
