One way to track cannabis shipments? Molecular barcodes
These tiny strands of inert DNA are applied to products from cotton to microchips, and help companies ensure their goods aren’t tampered with in transit.
By Dan McCarthy | September 29, 2021
High-end leather. Premium cotton. Fine wines.
These are some of the products that use Applied DNA’s molecular tags—an inert, unique strand of synthetic DNA companies use to ensure their product isn’t tampered with throughout its journey from the producer to end consumer.
Since 2017, cannabis has been on that list, too—and Applied DNA’s cannabis lead John Shearman told Emerging Tech Brew interest from cultivators and potential government and law enforcement clients is heating up as the now $17.5 billion legal cannabis industry matures in the US.
In mid–September, the company signed its newest cannabis partner, Flora Growth, an all-outdoor, publicly traded, Colombia-based grower that expects to earn $9 million- $11 million in the second half of 2021. Shearman declined to tell us how many active cannabis clients it has, and it hasn’t publicly disclosed any other than Flora.
