Finley Sheree J, Javan Gulnaz T, Green Robert L
Department of Physical Sciences and Forensic Science Programs, Alabama State University, Montgomery, AL, United States.
Front Microbiol. 2022 Apr 11;13:760374. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.760374. eCollection 2022.
Forensic laboratories are required to have analytical tools to confidently differentiate illegal substances such as marijuana from legal products (i.e., industrial hemp). The Achilles heel of industrial hemp is its association with marijuana. Industrial hemp from the L. plant is reported to be one of the strongest natural multipurpose fibers on earth. The plant is a vigorous annual crop broadly separated into two classes: industrial hemp and marijuana. Up until the eighteenth century, hemp was one of the major fibers in the United States. The decline of its cultivation and applications is largely due to burgeoning manufacture of synthetic fibers. Traditional composite materials such as concrete, fiberglass insulation, and lumber are environmentally unfavorable. Industrial hemp exhibits environmental sustainability, low maintenance, and high local and national economic impacts. The 2018 Farm Bill made way for the legalization of hemp by categorizing it as an ordinary agricultural commodity. Unlike marijuana, hemp contains less than 0.3% of the cannabinoid, Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive compound which gives users psychotropic effects and confers illegality in some locations. On the other hand, industrial hemp contains cannabidiol found in the resinous flower of and is purported to have multiple advantageous uses. There is a paucity of investigations of the identity, microbial diversity, and biochemical characterizations of industrial hemp. This review provides background on important topics regarding hemp and the quantification of total tetrahydrocannabinol in hemp products. It will also serve as an overview of emergent microbiological studies regarding hemp inflorescences. Further, we examine challenges in using forensic analytical methodologies tasked to distinguish legal fiber-type material from illegal drug-types.
法医实验室需要具备分析工具，以便可靠地区分大麻等非法物质与合法产品（即工业大麻）。工业大麻的致命弱点在于它与大麻的关联。据报道，来自该植物的工业大麻是地球上最强韧的天然多用途纤维之一。该植物是一种一年生的茁壮作物，大致分为两类：工业大麻和大麻。直到18世纪，大麻都是美国的主要纤维之一。其种植和应用的减少主要是由于合成纤维制造业的蓬勃发展。传统复合材料，如混凝土、玻璃纤维绝缘材料和木材，对环境不利。工业大麻具有环境可持续性、维护成本低以及对地方和国家经济有重大影响等特点。2018年的《农场法案》将大麻归类为普通农产品，从而为其合法化铺平了道路。与大麻不同，大麻中含有的大麻素Δ-四氢大麻酚低于0.3%，这种精神活性化合物会给使用者带来精神作用，在某些地方还会导致其非法性。另一方面，工业大麻含有在该植物树脂花中发现的大麻二酚，据称有多种有益用途。目前对工业大麻的身份、微生物多样性和生化特性的研究较少。本综述提供了关于大麻的重要主题以及大麻产品中总四氢大麻酚定量的背景信息。它还将作为关于大麻花序的新兴微生物学研究的概述。此外，我们研究了使用法医分析方法区分合法纤维类材料和非法毒品类材料所面临的挑战。
