Hemp istechnically legal in Texas, but proving that hemp is not marijuana can be a hurdle,requiring testing in a licensed laboratory. So, when a truck carrying thousandsof pounds of hemp was recently detained by law enforcement near Amarillo, thedriver spent weeks in jail awaiting confirmation that the cargo waslegal.

Stories likethat one inspired a team of Texas A&MAgriLife researchersto find a way to use a handheld spectrometer as a hempscannerthat could easily fit in a police cruiser and distinguish hemp and marijuanainstantly, without damaging any of the product.

In 2019,Texas lawmakers made a distinction between hemp and marijuana based on thelevel of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, in a plant. THC is the majorpsychoactive agent in marijuana. If a plant has less than 0.3% THC, it isdesignated hemp.

Dr. Dmitry Kurouski, assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, led the study on using a handheld spectrometer as a way to instantly distinguish hemp from marijuana.

Both federaland state restrictions on hemp have loosened in recent years. As a result, thevalue of hemp has skyrocketed, said DmitryKurouski,Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, who led thestudy. Hemp is rich in compounds that are prized for their medicinal propertiesand flavor. The most well-known is CBD, or cannabidiol, which is thought tohelp with pain, anxiety and depression.

But farmers wantingto grow valuable hemp plants need a way to know that the plants contain littleto no THC. Texas producers need to know if their plants THC levels areapproaching 0.3%, which would classify the plants as marijuana and thereforeillegal to have and grow. An easy test for THC would be a boon for farmers aswell as for law enforcement.

Kurouski saidthat the catalyst for using the portable scanner was his colleague DavidBaltensperger, Ph.D., professor of soil and crop sciences at the Texas A&MUniversity College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Baltensperger had workedwith both farmers and police officers and knew about the demand for a bettertest for THC, Kurouski said.

Kurouskislab was experienced in using a technique called Raman spectroscopy to createquick and noninvasive tests for plant diseases and foodsnutritional content. The technique uses harmless laser light to illuminate structureswithin materials. Each materials scan is unique, akin to a fingerprint.

Kurouski hada hunch that Raman could be used to create a quick and accurate test for THC. Aportable Raman scanner had been utilized for previous studies by lab membersLee Sanchez, a research assistant, and Charles Farber, a graduate student.

Lee Sanchez, research assistant of biochemistry and biophysics at the Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, tested the samples near Denver, where recreational marijuana is legal.

What was thenneeded was a way to scan many marijuana and hemp plants in order to search forpatterns in how their Raman spectra differed.

Testingdozens of samples of marijuana and hemp fell to Sanchez. The testing needed tohappen near Denver, where recreational marijuana is legal.

Lee Sanchezwas the hero who was traveling to Colorado three times, staying there in hotelsand driving from one location to another. Most of those locations are old firestations. They are not fancy greenhouses but old, shaky buildings with plantsinside, Kurouski said.

Back inTexas, Sanchez and Kurouski analyzed the collected spectra. A statisticalanalysis method found seven regions in the spectra that differed slightly amongmarijuana and hemp varieties tested, a high-tech version of the spot thedifference brain teaser. Taken together, the readout in these seven regionsdistinguished the hemp and marijuana varieties tested with 100% accuracy.

Now that Kurouskis team has demonstrated its quick, noninvasive test for THC, the next step is to collaborate with industry to make the test available to the public.

We knowplants from A to Z in terms of their spectroscopic signature, Kurouski said.But when we saw such a crystal-clear picture of THC that appeared in onesecond of spectral acquisition, that was mind-blowing.

Now thatKurouskis team has demonstrated its quick, noninvasive test for THC, they arelooking to collaborate with industry to make their test available to thepublic.

The team alsoaims to create a similar test for CBD. Farmers looking to grow hemp may want toknow the amount of CBD in their plants to better estimate their value.

The studyalso demonstrated the ability to use the scanner to differentiate varieties ofmarijuana. In the changing legal landscape, there are thousands of varieties ofcannabis, many of questionable quality.

Ourcolleagues, the farmers, were positively surprised that we could identify thevariety with 98% accuracy, Kurouski said. That blew them away.

A communityof scholars driven to create positive impacts around the world, Texas A&MUniversity embraces determination, innovation, and creativity.

Texas A&Mis one of the largestresearch universities in the United States and is one of only 17 institutions in thenation to hold the triple designation as a land-, sea-, and space-grantuniversity. Our faculty-researchers generated more than $952 million inresearch expenditures in FY 2019, all while enhancing undergraduate andgraduate education by providing hands-on research.

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Is it Hemp or Marijuana? - Discover Magazine