Advanced Cannabis Science
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Women are on the cutting edge of quality testing and safety regulations in the marijuana industry. By Jahan Marcu, Ph.D.
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hese days, women are not just cannabusiness executives, but true leaders in technology development, consumer safety and implementing regulations. Here are profiles of three female members of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Cannabis Subdivision, which, among other things, hopes to guide young scientists into the marijuana workforce. The ACS is the largest and oldest chemists’ society in the United States.
Quality Control Melissa Wilcox is Marketing Manager at Grace Discovery Sciences in Columbia, Md. and co-founder of the American Chem- Melissa Wilcox: “Cannabis is ical Society Canreally an extension nabis Subdivision. of the natural Best known for her products industry.” work on developing next-generation universal evaporative light-scattering detectors, she turned techniques such as flash chromatography into workhorses of the natural products world. Specifically, Wilcox has adapted flash chromatography to obtain reliable testing values from cannabis edibles—gummies, brownies, soda, pasta sauce and extracts.
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How did a conservative specialty materials company like Grace Discovery Sciences, whose products usually cater to more traditional industries like pharma and biotech, enter the cannabis arena? Wilcox says she was “driven to see if our technology could be applied to cannabis analysis, or cannabis applications in general. The other thing is that I’ve always been interested in plants like cannabis and the science behind them. Cannabis is really an extension of the natural products industry. But this is a little more complicated due to its Schedule I status.” Wilcox believes organizations such as the American Chemical Society, the American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS) and others are going to help ensure product safety and quality, and guide states and maybe even the federal government to create sensible policies and regulations for these products. Beginning a career with professional training is key, Wilcox insists. “It certainly helps to have a background in pharmacognosy,” she says. “If your goal is to analyze cannabis or other natural products, having degrees is certainly going to help. There are a lot of good people making sure we have the right methods, tests and quality control in place, so that this industry can grow and flourish without harming anyone in the process.”
december 2015