Importancia de la certificación de los fármacos cannabinoides

Abstract

Introduction. Medicinal plants play an important role in global health. Currently, herbal medicines are accepted but the increase in their consumption has led to the production and sale of medicines with inadequate quality controls, often with adverse consequences for the patient. One of the plants for medicinal purposes that have recently aroused the interest of patients and health professionals is cannabis; however, in places where this plant has been legalized, there is a major concern about its quality in production. Material and Methods. A systematic review of scientific articles was carried out in various databases, without date restriction, in the Spanish and English languages. The abstracts and, in the necessary cases, the complete articles were reviewed. All articles that included topics related to this review were considered. Results. This research underlined the importance of applying quality standards for the planting, harvesting, handling, and production of the cannabis plant as medicine. Conclusions. It is necessary to establish standards that ensure the quality of cannabis as a medicine. Even though technology is currently being used to convert botanicals into medicines where standardization and quality control have an important weight, few countries have implemented it.