Medical Cannabis is the medical use of Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and various other strains to relieve symptoms of diseases and treat their conditions. Products can range from dried cannabis flowers, cannabis oils, capsules and tablets to mouth spray. Cannabis-derivatives can provide a remedy for patients suffering from pain, cramps and/or nausea and many other illnesses and diseases, improving function and overall quality of life.
Patients find that medical cannabis from cannabis plants works better than simple medications containing cannabinoids, where active substances are isolated. The legality of cannabis for medical and recreational use varies per country, in terms of its possession, distribution, and cultivation as well as how it can be consumed and the medical conditions for which it can be used. Countries that have legalized the medical use of cannabis include Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lesotho, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Norway, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, South Africa, and Thailand.
Others have more restrictive laws that only allow the use of certain cannabis-derived pharmaceutical drugs. In the United States, 33 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the medical use of cannabis, but at the federal level, its use remains prohibited for any purpose.
One thing is certain, the industry is rapidly growing as more countries began to accept the use of medical cannabis. This situation is forcing companies to optimize their production mechanisms, especially if they want to provide products for a rapidly growing industry.
Blockchain Technology As A Solution
Before explaining how this technology could improve the existant medical cannabis industry, it is important to know what blockchain technology is. Blockchain technology can be defined as a list of records, named blocks, that are linked with each other using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data that cannot be altered. This open distributed ledger can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way.
CannaCor is a company looking to develop a fully functional blockchain-based platform for the optimization of the cultivation and commercialization process of medical cannabis is CannnaCor, a company licensed as a prohibited drug operator. With over 50 000m2 of acquired land in Berea, Lesotho, the company will dedicate the land to the greenhouse or indoor cultivation of Cannabis. This company aims to become one of the top players in the industry, currently licensed and compliant with regulations to provide services in Canada, Europe and other global markets from this facility.
By introducing blockchain technology to the equation, CannaCor aims to reduce costs by digitalizing the supply chain process, offering real-time product trading information in a secure wat. The process will also eliminate all intermediaries, therefore, reducing the risk of fraud and duplicity of products while also enhancing accurate record-keeping. Blockchain-based supply chain management provides tracking and record-keeping in real-time through embedded sensors and RFID tags. Parties interested will be able to easily retrieve the product history and trace it back from its origin to the present situation at any point in time. Furthermore, such accuracy in provenance tracking can be utilized to detect and prevent fraud even in complex supply chains.
The optimization of processes through blockchain technology also enables multiple parties in the supply chain to build trust in the system, optimizing operations. The integrity of records in the supply chain will be safely kept and shared throughout the entire process in real-time, eliminating unnecessary steps of verification. In addition, regulatory entities and stakeholders can also be confident about the information and records shared due to the fact that blockchain shields information from manipulation, preventing from it being tampered with on all levels. CannaCor will be able to quickly track unsafe” products back to their source and determine where they have been distributed, preventing potential illness and saving lives, as well as reducing the cost of product recalls.
Blockchain will ultimately bring operational efficiencies to its highest by reducing costs in existing processes, removing intermediaries and eliminating the administrative effort of record-keeping and transaction reconciliation. By seeing everything in real-time, it is much easier for the employees to manage excess inventory, clear stock, manage stock-outs and help reduce employee errors. The inaccuracies can easily be calculated, reducing costs and maximizing revenue, which is what a potential business always strives to achieve. Lower costs also serve as a competitive advantage. Therefore, CannaCor will always be more efficient than its competitors.