UNM researchers help create first Cannabis flower categorization system
February 22, 2023
University of New Mexico researchers joined forces with software developers from Releaf App to solve a fundamental hurdle in the medical cannabis sciences: how to identify and clinically investigate cannabis plants and their unique chemical profiles, irrespective of strain names and other arbitrary features dominating the extant cannabis industry.
Using Releaf App data on cannabis phytochemical profiles and patient outcomes, cannabis researchers at The University of New Mexico constructed the first Cannabis flower indexing system capable of distinguishing individual plant strains based on their primary cannabinoid and terpene contents, or what is scientifically referred to as “cannabis chemovars.”
In their recent study, titled “Systematic Combinations of Major Cannabinoid and Terpene Contents in Cannabis Flower and Patient Outcomes: A Proof-of-Concept Assessment of the Vigil Index of Cannabis Chemovars,” (VICC), published in the Journal of Cannabis Research, the UNM researchers, including Associate Professor of Psychology Jacob Vigil and Associate Professor of Economics Sarah Stith, used data from the Releaf App to design a complete cannabis product indexing system and demonstrated that unique chemovars differ in their therapeutic effects, a long-held observation by cannabis users, but largely untested by the scientific community.
Read more at UNM Newsroom.
