Jun 12, 2017

Yesterday, global standards organization ASTM International and the Foundation of Cannabis Unified Standards (FOCUS) announced a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to address standardization needs for the cannabis industry.  

The agreement, effective immediately, was signed in advance of ASTM International’s new cannabis committee June 11 and 12.  The meeting is part of a larger “committee week” event with about 25 committees and 1,500 attendees at the Sheraton Centre Toronto in Ontario, Canada.

Under the agreement, ASTM International will coordinate standards development activities allowing FOCUS to shift resources towards other services.

“We are pleased to continue our support for standards development through one of the world’s leading standards organizations,” said Lezli Engelking, founder and president of FOCUS. “We look forward to participating in this fast-growing group and being able to use ASTM International standards to advance FOCUS certification services.”

“FOCUS has played a groundbreaking role to drive standardization in the cannabis industry in recent years,” said Ralph Paroli, Ph.D., the committee’s new chairman and the director of R&D in measurement science and standards at the National Research Council of Canada. “The work that FOCUS has done will be part of the foundation for the new committee, helping us expedite standards development, identify gaps, prevent duplicative efforts, and more.”
 
Paroli, Engelking, and others are featured in a brief video about the new committee.

In addition, through a license agreement, the committee’s standards will note when FOCUS contributed technical expertise or content from one of its preexisting standards.

Over the past year, after a growing number of requests from industry, the committee on cannabis (designated D37 by ASTM International) formally organized. The group has grown to about 200 members, including businesses, laboratories, associations, governments, and others.  Anyone interested in participating can contact rmorgan@astm.org.

Next Meeting of Committee on Cannabis (D37): June 11-12, Sheraton Centre Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Media Inquiries: Nathan Osburn, tel +1.610.832.9603; nosburn@astm.org 
Committee Contact: Christine DeJong, tel +1.610.832.9736; cdejong@astm.org
FOCUS Contact: Lezli Engelking, tel +1.602.791.5312; lezli@focusstandards.org

   
Release #10338