There are an estimated ~ 3.5 million medical marijuana patients in the United States (U.S.) (Leafly 2018b) and various levels of recent legalization in many states has led to a surge of new strains (Leafly 2018a Wikileaf 2018). 1976 Small 2015a), but given the success of using genetic markers, such as microsatellites, to determine varieties in other crops, we suggest that similar genetic based approaches should be used to identify Cannabis strains in medical and recreational marketplaces. 1974 Hillig 2005 Russo 2007 Clarke and Merlin 2013 Clarke et al. Cannabis taxonomy is complex (Emboden 1974 Schultes et al. Without verification systems in place, there is the potential for misidentification and mislabeling of plants, creating names for plants of unknown origin, and even re-naming or re-labeling plants with prominent names for better sale. Reports of inconsistencies, along with the history of underground trading and growing in the absence of a verification system, reinforce the likelihood that strain names may be unreliable identifiers for Cannabis products at the present time. Consequently, suppliers are unable to provide confirmation of strains, and consumers have to trust the printed name on a label matches the product inside the package. 2015).Ĭurrently, the Cannabis industry has no way to verify strains. 2017), but studies with multiple accessions of a particular strain show variation (Lynch et al. Global restrictions have limited Cannabis related research, and there are relatively few genetic studies focused on strains (Lynch et al. Drug Enforcement Agency considers Cannabis a Schedule I drug with no “accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” (United States Congress n.d.), but laws allowing Cannabis for use as hemp, medicine, and some adult recreational use are emerging (ProCon 2018). dates back thousands of years (Abel 2013) but has been largely illegal worldwide for the best part of the last century. In this research, we examined commercially available, drug-type Cannabis strains using genetic methods to determine if the commonly referenced distinctions are supported and if samples with the same strain name are consistent when obtained from different facilities.Ĭultivation of Cannabis sativa L. As Cannabis legalization and consumption increases, the need to provide consumers with consistent products becomes more pressing. Despite more than 2000 named strains being available to consumers, questions about the consistency of commercially available strains have not been investigated through scientific methodologies. As Cannabis has become legal for medical and recreational consumption in many states, consumers have been exposed to a wave of novel Cannabis products with many distinctive names. Distinctive Cannabis varieties are ostracized from registration and therefore nearly impossible to verify. Unlike other plants, Cannabis sativa is excluded from regulation by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The dataset used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Purchase receipts and original packaging of samples (when possible) were retained for reference. All purchased material was exhausted in genetic and chemical analyses (for another study). All specimens were purchased directly from dispensaries and samples were purchased from a customer perspective as-is, and, as such, voucher specimens are unavailable. Dispensaries did not provide any additional information on the flower purchased other than the standard information printed on the label (strain name and cannabinoid levels). Flower samples were purchased from dispensaries based on what was available on the shelf at the time of purchase. The locations of the dispensaries in this experiment were chosen randomly, therefore the experiment can be replicated without precise location information for the samples used here. The names for each dispensary are coded to protect the identity of businesses where genotypes may deviate from the norm.
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