Growing acceptance of medical cannabis has led to a worldwide increase in production of the plant, but some of the associated legal and regulatory frameworks has not kept pace.
According to a project at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), the current lack of quality control regulations or standards for correct manufacturing processes could lead to uncontrolled and even harmful crop products.
One possible answer could be enhanced optical imaging of the cannabis plants, and the UPV/EHU project has developed a technique based around hyperspectral imaging and machine learning designed to ensure the traceability or quality control of medicinal cannabis plants on an industrial scale.
Published in the journal Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, the study could pave the way for non-invasive horticultural quality control in medical cannabis production, serving an emerging industry that will require strict control over the cannabis chemotypes.
Read more at: www.optics.org