Cannabis In The News

VerifyMe Acquires New Cannabis Client

Nasdaq-listed VerifyMe, which uses physical, digital and online technology to create customised authentication, track and trace and customer engagement solutions, recently announced an initial order for 4 million VerifyMe technology-enabled labels from a new cannabis-related client.

The labels will allow consumers to authenticate the product using their smartphones, and have access to product specification features. In the future, it is expected that supplemental two-way consumer engagement and business intelligence features will be added.

VerifyMe’s Chief Executive Officer, Patrick White, commented: ‘cannabis clients are dealing with counterfeiting problems as well as unique advertising and government product tracking and reporting requirements. VerifyMe’s custom technology solution helps solve these issues’.

The company’s physical security technology includes a suite of proprietary security inks and pigments, which work in conjunction with serialisation and track and trace software known as VeriPAS™.

At the core of VerifyMe’s solution is a patented, organic, rare earth pigment with a unique and specific IR frequency. The pigment can be incorporated on (or even in) a product or its packaging in the form of an invisible marker, the presence (or absence) of which is detected by the company’s taggant scanner.

Alternatively, the pigment can take the form of an invisible, serialised 2D barcode, which is revealed by a special calibrated laser device capable of fluorescing, decoding and verifying the code. Whatever form it takes, when the rare earth pigment is used together with a visible, unsecured barcode, it provides assurance that the barcode is genuine.

Applied DNA Enters into Agreement with Flora Growth

Nasdaq-listed Applied DNA, a leader in polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based DNA manufacturing and nucleic acid-based technologies, has entered into a master services agreement (MSA) with Flora Growth to deploy its CertainT® technology. The technology is part of Flora’s global cannabis product validation and authentication platform for consumers, distributors, and government regulators.

Applied DNA will implement the technology across three locations (one in Florida, USA ,and two in Colombia), where the company’s molecular tags will be applied to quantities of Flora’s cannabis flower and derivatives, as well as select products in their portfolio.

The CertainT platform has three technology pillars (Tag, Test, Track), which allow raw materials and products to be tagged with a unique molecular identifier. This identifier can then be tested for its presence as it travels throughout a global supply chain. All the data points associated to tagging and testing are tracked by uploading to a secure cloud database.

The MSA is the result of Applied DNA’s strategic alliance, referral, and technology integration agreement with TruTrace Technologies, under which TruTrace’s blockchain-based StrainSecure™ platform was integrated with CertainT to deliver a complete, end-to-end supply chain security solution to cannabis companies.

Flora will employ the integrated CertainT-StrainSecure solution to support its product validation and authentication platform, to be used in conjunction with exports of cannabis products internationally to open markets like Australia. The platform was specifically designed to power the traceability of testing standards within the legal cannabis, nutraceutical, food and pharmaceutical space, with a focus on the authentication of source materials or ingredients used in formulation.

Cannabis is Counterfeiters’ New Target, Warns Hologram Industry

Reports of counterfeit cannabis have reinforced the critical need to protect bonafide products and packaging, says the International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA). For example, sales of synthetic cannabinoids being mis-sold as cannabis are reported to be on the rise in the UK.

With the increased legalisation of the drug around the world, including in many US states, the IHMA believes it is critically important for regulated cannabis products to be fully protected from the threat of counterfeiters.

This will become even more important in the next few years, it says, as the growing demand for legalised cannabis-derived treatments opens up new opportunities for consumer goods and pharmaceuticals.

Cannabis packaging must comply with stringent regulatory requirements while retaining eye-catching consumer appeal. So the IHMA is urging supply chains and authorities to review how they tackle the threat before the situation exacerbates, and to consider adopting authentication devices such as readily available holograms.

Dr Paul Dunn, Chair of the IHMA, said: ‘the use of track and trace programmes featuring security devices and integrated QR codes are particularly helpful in proving the authenticity of cannabis products and packaging’.

AuthentiBrand Inc is among those companies leading the development of holograms to secure the safety and provenance of cannabis packaging. President Peter Scheir said the company’s holograms are featured on millions of packages and added: ‘we develop affordable… strategies for tracking, authentication, marketing and promotions’.

One of AuthentiBrand’s solutions for the cannabis market is the HoloShield Ultimate Technology Label (UTL). The holographic label consists of a serialised QR code tied to the company’s patent pending QR Manager white label application for data collection, tracking, authenticating and marketing. The label also carries multi-layered security technology that includes the COMPASS effect for overt end user authentication, as well as covert microscopic and laser viewable elements, and forensic-level DNA markers.

HoloShield UTL holographic label (© AuthentiBrand).

The COMPASS effect is a patented high-security holographic element, which is viewed upon rotating the hologram clockwise or counter-clockwise. While all other elements on the label move with the direction of the rotation, the round-shaped COMPASS element stays facing the same way. This easy-to-use feature allows almost anyone to identify the validity of the hologram label, even without formal training, says AuthentiBrand.

The DNA forensic level markers incorporated into the HoloShield UTL label are virtually invisible on the surface of the hologram and can be instantly ‘scanned’ by a small affordable handheld reader. The reader links wirelessly to a mobile device or computer and allows for the integration of data into a central database, through an encrypted portal.