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The sanction of Law 27,350 on the use and self-cultivation of medical cannabis, with its latest regulatory decree 883 of 2020large the number of people in the country who treat their health problems through oils and other derived therapeutic products. Now, in Mar del Plata, the first analysis laboratory was inaugurated to be able to certify the quality of the products that are in circulation.
The laboratory is called Hemp Lab, and it has high-tech equipment, to work both with requests from individuals and with companies that wish to certify the quality of the products they offer. The project is headed by Pilar Díaz, a chemical engineer and technical director of the Mar del Plata laboratory, who arrived in the world of medicinal cannabis for the treatment of her mother, who suffers from osteoarthritis of the hip.
The laboratory that was born in 2019, following an initial investment of 1,300,000 dollars, has now managed to incorporate an equipment of 4 Shimadzu machines, of Japanese origin, which allows it to certify the quality of medicinal products, under the ISO 17025: 2017 standard. This advance allowed the laboratory to initiate strategic agreements with CONICET, genetics companies and local producers.
What can be analyzed by sending the products to a high-tech laboratory?
- Qualitative and quantitative determination of cannabinoids and terpenes.
- moisture content
- Presence of polluting elements such as residual solvents, heavy metals and pesticides.
“As a chemical engineer and specialist in laboratory quality management, I understood that I might make a great contribution to the industry, democratizing access to high-tech analysis to help improve the processes of growers and producers directly, and thus offer products high-quality reliable products to users”, considered the founder of the private laboratory in Mar del Plata.
And it puts the boom in therapeutic self-cultivation into context: “It is time to know and evaluate each product, to take care of the processes, improve the quality of life and create relationships of trust.”