By MICHAEL C. PATTERSON
Medical Cannabis is slowly becoming more acceptable to the medical community as a form of treatment for certain ailments. As the number of medical cannabis dispensaries increase across Florida and other states, a sense of normalcy is beginning to emerge with medical cannabis becoming part of our everyday lives.
Some of the areas that are not well known about the cannabis industry are the “picks and shovels” encompassing quickly advancing computer and biotechnology. These systems make medical cannabis more beneficial and safer for patients. These systems will also lower production and compliance costs for manufacturers. Technology and innovation are playing major roles in the growing cannabis market in the following areas:
“Seed to sale” tracking software- computer software that is able to track each cannabis plant from when it is a seed, all the way to when a person buys the cannabis is called “seed to sale”. It has become the standard mandated by Florida law and almost every other legal cannabis state. This software is critical for public safety to ensure the public trust of the supply chain and to ensure that patients know exactly where their medicine was manufactured.
DNA matching- With the proliferation of DNA testing kits (Ancestry.com, 23 and me), Americans have become used to having their DNA tested to give them information about themselves. This DNA information will help your physician to identify types or strains of cannabis that will work well with your body’s chemistry and makeup. Physicians will be able to determine the best delivery method (pill, topical, vapor, tincture, smokable, edible, etc.) based on your DNA and access to de-identified data on thousands of other people with similar diagnoses and successful cannabis treatment plans. This technology will allow Physicians to become better at recommending a specific cannabis treatment and protect themselves from future liability. Furthermore, it will decrease the cost of the medicine to the patient because it will allow the patient to take the best cannabis medication the first time, rather than going through trial and error in taking different strains and forms of cannabis to see what works for them. We expect to see Florida Medical Marijuana treatment centers (MMTCs) begin to implement DNA matching technology in 2020.
NFC tracking technology- NFC, near field communication, is already being used to purchase items with your cell phone at the register of a store (i.e. Apple pay). NFC has been adapted to be imbedded in packaging to allow businesses and consumers to validate chain of custody and content of products without opening the item. This technology will allow for better and faster inventory management by updating the location of cannabis medication in real time anywhere in the world. NFC will also assist law enforcement and customs officials to validate legal products by simply downloading an app and scanning each package to receive accurate information on each product.
Blockchain technology- blockchain is a distributed ledger computer technology system that makes software immutable to fraud. Eventually, all computer software will move to blockchain due to its anti-fraud capabilities and its ability to handle an extreme amount of data. This technology will revolutionize medicine in many ways by allowing health systems to find and correct problems faster and use data-analytics to make healthcare delivery more efficient . One of the ways it will help the cannabis industry is through instant recall notification of product. If it is discovered that a batch of medical cannabis has contaminants or needs to be recalled, the blockchain software will allow the manufacturer to quickly notify the patient who purchased the medication. The manufacturer will enter the batch number or lot number of the medication, and every patient who ever purchased the medication will be instantly notified via text or email to bring the medication back to the store of purchase. This will decrease the time required to notify patient of a recall and ultimately save lives.
The medical marijuana system is growing faster than any other form of healthcare in the modern era. Continued technological advancement in the cannabis industry is important to increase efficacy, safety, reliability, and trust of using cannabis as a medicine.
Michael C. Patterson, founder and CEO of U.S. Cannabis Pharmaceutical Research & Development of Melbourne, is a consultant for the development of the medical marijuana industry nationwide and in Florida. He serves as a consultant to Gerson Lehrman Group, New York and helps educate GLG partners on specific investment strategies and public policy regarding Medical Marijuana in the U.S. and Internationally. He can be reached at mpatterson@uscprd.com
