ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and LDA: a rapid, non-destructive and cost effective strategy to trace the geographical origin of Cannabis sativa L

Abstract

Abstract Cannabis recreational and/or medicinal use have been legalized in the past years in many states and countries. As a consequence, many Cannabis growers and product developers have emerged in a new market throughout the world; at the same time, issues regarding questionable quality control have also risen, as several reports on Cannabis users’ health-related problems caused by inaccurate labeling content in Cannabis-based medicines, edibles or other derivatives are being published and brought out to the public’s attention. These facts make traceability methodologies crucial whether for forensic use, such as drug trafficking eradication, or for quality control purposes of legal Cannabis and of products derived from it. Hence, the objective of this study was to analyze Cannabis by means of Attenuated Total Reflection Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) in order to assess the capability of this technique to trace the geographical origin of Cannabis cultivated in Brazil and in Colorado, United States of America. Forty-seven samples from Brazil and 18 samples from Colorado were analyzed by ATR-FTIR. Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) was employed to source the samples. The combination of ATR-FTIR and LDA achieved up to 95.23% accuracy in assigning Cannabis samples to their geographical locations of origin in Brazil and up to 100% in Colorado.