Veterans For Cannabis Foundation (VFCF) have announced a new partnership with Medicinal Genomics and Courtagen Life Sciences to provide StrainSEEK™ strain identification and registration services for branded products.
The plan is to create specially branded cannabidiol (CBD) products that can be tracked, and one challenge the group hopes to overcome is the creative names that many strains of cannabis have acquired over the years.
Renaming the products to something more palatable to potential government committees could help make sure the data gets a fair review, and tracking the genetics will ensure that the connection to the original name is not lost.
Veterans can join the program at no charge and cannabis products will be available to them at a discount. The objective is to collect real world data about the effects of several cannabis strains used for treatment of different conditions, including PTSD, chronic pain and neurological conditions.
“We are very proud to be working together with the Veterans For Cannabis Foundation,” said Mike Catalano, Medicinal Genomics and Courtagen Life Sciences’ head of marketing. “Their mission of effecting change through data collection may ultimately help to reduce the unnecessary deaths amongst our veteran population, in particular for conditions where opioids are commonly prescribed. Registering the genetic fingerprint of the cannabis strains used will help control the consistency of the products and the data collection efforts.”
VFCF is an American non-profit group that works to end the 22 suicides per day occurring in the military veteran community, as well as reduce the needless accidental overdose deaths caused by prescription medication. The group works through partnerships with growers and dispensaries that offer members treatment options at a reduced cost and via a scientific study of DNA sequenced cannabis strains.
“We are laser-focused and extremely excited to be working with Medicinal Genomics and Courtagen Life Sciences to bring cannabis science to the forefront in the treatment of our veterans,” said VFCF founder Joshua Littrell. “With MGC’s StrainSEEK program we are able to take some of the guess work out of cannabis treatment in our veteran community. VFCF will now be able to replicate and reproduce the experience for veterans in our program. Our veterans are begging for a treatment they can trust and that is uniform. Now they can rest assured knowing they are receiving the same treatment every time.”