Could 2020 Unveil a Hemp Scanner?
A few weeks ago I reported on an incident where Texan authorities stopped a man driving a U-Haul, arrested him – took his cargo thinking it was cannabis – only to realize months later that it was hemp. The cops blamed the fact that they were “ill-equipped” to adequately test whether the crops were hemp or cannabis – and to be fair – they didn’t have the means to verify.
Now – some of you might say, “Reginald, fuck’em! They shouldn’t even be arresting people for weed!” of which I would reply, “I’m totally on your side on this point!”
However, at the same time – you must think of law enforcement as roid-loving-Neanderthals with barely enough intelligence to distinguish a “crime” from a “non-crime”. A law-enforcement advocate would argue that “since cops are meant to enforce the law and cannabis is illegal at a federal level, that arresting someone for weed is simply ‘doing their job’”.
And while this is 100% true – it didn’t excuse the Nazis who were ‘just following orders’. That is a weak cop-out in responsibility towards your part in sustaining a system that oppresses your fellow man – but I let’s get back on point!
All of this “fuckery” did lead to something good….and that is the invention of a Hemp Scanner!
A Hemp Scanner you say. Tell me more!
Researchers at Texas A&M Agrilife believe that they have the solution to this problem. This January, they published a study in RSC Advances.
But what exactly would this scanner do?
The researchers implemented what I called Raman Spectroscopy that makes a quick and non-invasive testing on the product. This is great, because this means that law enforcement would be able to test ‘on-the-spot’ whether the cargo is hemp or not.
The technique implements laser light to light up certain structures within materials. The material scans are 100% unique – just like your fingerprint.
In order to prove that it worked, they had to go to Colorado – at least one of the grad students had to – several times to go and test out different crops. The results came back with 100% efficiency.
This snippet from Science Daily puts things in greater perspective;
A statistical analysis method found seven regions in the spectra that differed slightly among marijuana and hemp varieties, a high-tech version of the "spot the difference" brain teaser. Taken together, the readout in these seven regions distinguishes hemp and marijuana with 100% accuracy.
"We know plants from A to Z in terms of their spectroscopic signature," Kurouski said. "But when we saw such a crystal-clear picture of THC that appeared in one second of spectral acquisition, that was mind-blowing."
Will we see the scanner this year?
This year – we will see the proof of concept – however we won’t have the device/scanner available for mass production just yet. The researchers are currently looking into scaling solutions to allow this device to reach all over the world.
Thus, we can expect this to roll out over the next 2-3 years. This won’t solve the immediate problem some people will undoubtedly face as their hemp is seized by the cops and their livelihoods ruined by inefficient law enforcement.
However, it is great news that these types of devices will be available in the near future. In fact, the team of researchers are also working on a CBD scanner – which will quickly and easily tell you the percentage of CBD in the plant.
The Future of Growing
There will come a time when testing crops for their different cannabinoid profiles will be simple. We’ll be Doctor Who-ing about with our Sonic Screwdrivers pointing it at plants (and humans) and getting a complete biological profile of the organisms.
However, the first versions will probably be these type of devices utilizing Raman Spectroscopy.
Nonetheless – we will become far more precise with our growing as we continue to integrate cannabis into other areas of industry.
It makes sense that a lot of agricultural issues that cannabis face will be solved by those who are in the agricultural industry and this “solve” will actually assist in keeping many people out of jail.
The Future of your rights!
Cannabis is in a funny place currently. People want it, law enforcement would rather not deal with it – but do because of the whole Nazi Logic they follow – politicians for the most part are simply unaware where the rest of the people are on the subject.
And the individual is the one who gets caught in the ambiguity – usually ending up with a record or having time/resources stolen from them.
With devices like the THC/CBD tester – we make it safer for consumers and we inoculate ourselves a bit more from unreasonable law enforcement practices – like busting people for smoking, growing, transporting – a weed.
