Why Marijuana Needs Chemical Quality Control Testing - Polidicks

[quote]Medical marijuana isn't always as advertised—at least not in the Seattle area, as one lab found out. The lab, Analytical 360, recently worked with medical-marijuana patient Jessica Tonani to test samples from 22 area dispensaries and growers, The Seattle Times reports. The samples were all supposed to be of a strain of marijuana called Harlequin that has low levels of intoxicating chemicals, but high levels of therapeutic ones. Instead, five of the samples were the opposite. They were high in psychedelic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), but had "virtually no" cannabidiol, which medical-marijuana users seek to help with the symptoms of epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease and other diseases. "You don't want a 6-year-old with epilepsy being put on a bus under the influence of a psychedelic chemical," Tonani told The Seattle Times. No, you do not. As more states have legalized medical and recreational marijuana use, there's been growing interest in making sure pot products are clean and consistent and offer customers the effects they want. It’s just like any other commercial product, from ibuprofen to Greek yogurt. Last year, Chemical & Engineering News reported on small commercial labs, including Analytical 360, that had popped up to offer marijuana chemistry-testing services. "Why should medical marijuana be different from any other pharmaceutical?" C&EN asked, rhetorically. Before that, Slate published a story that included the reporter's brother, a scientist for a commercial lab who helps breeders and dispensaries determine the strength and quality—no mites or mold, please—of their stuff.[/quote] [url]http://www.popsci.com/article/science/why-marijuana-needs-chemical-quality-control-testing?dom=PSC&loc=recent&lnk=9&con=why-marijuana-needs-chemical-quality-control-testing[/url]

Product control comes along with the legalization process. Just don't strangle the suppliers with regulations or you kick up a black market again for uncertified weed.

[QUOTE=pentium;45030526]Product control comes along with the legalization process. Just don't strangle the suppliers with regulations or you kick up a black market again for uncertified weed.[/QUOTE] Just have nutritional labeling and inspections like food services and I think that should be sufficient for commercially driven dispensaries to comply.

Before it was legalized, the MMJ dispensaries that I heard of (being a Canadian and ineligible/nowhere near them to see in person) often were very proactive about regular lab testing on their strains to assess the cannabinoid composition and strength. Sometimes they were labeled as "tested to contain [I]at least[/I] x% of y", but just as often you'd be able to see the actual lab report from that batch. Primarily in California, but still. Why any sort of testing was left out of being included in the licensing rules in Washington for commercial business sales is beyond me. Did they not talk to anyone in the dispensary end of the weed world? I don't expect lab testing if I'm buy off of a guy I know who knows a guy who sells for a guy he knows who grows, no names given thanks, but if I'm walking into a place with a business license and a regular compliance inspection schedule, I expect them to have a damn good idea what's in the psychoactive substances they're selling to me over the counter in the open. There's completely no reason not to unless you're dealing out of a backpack. Now, there's an added problem that, in its natural dried form, marijuana doesn't have uniform consistency and potency across any two given bits of even the same plant. A cola harvested from the very top may not have the same cannabinoid makeup and potency as one further down the plant, if it's grown outdoors, for example. However, a situation where you're buying a strain for CBD and you're instead getting an intense THC dose and little CBD is just unacceptable. Growing conditions and organic inconsistency won't cause [B]that[/B] kind of total mismatch, that's just zero effort in examination, or worse, deliberate THC promotion. There's been a push to get leaf as "frosty" as possible with THC crystals, to achieve higher and higher concentrations, and this actually isn't always a good thing, because it tips the balance away from the other cannabinoids (which are part of the fun even for recreation), and THC seems to be linked to the anxiety and paranoia effects sometimes experienced while high, so going over the top may make your high [I]worse[/I].

We have alcohol percentage (volume) listed so only fair to ensure weed is regulated similarly in it's content (% of THC/CBD etc)

[QUOTE=Starpluck;45030577]We have alcohol percentage (volume) listed so only fair to ensure weed is regulated similarly in it's content (% of THC/CBD etc)[/QUOTE] But wouldn't that % change plant to plant? It might also vary depending on the location of the buds on the same plant... The only way I can see a practical application of content identification is to homogenize it (perhaps by chopping/ grinding fairly fine). Not sure how well that would go over.

[QUOTE=pentium;45030526]Product control comes along with the legalization process. Just don't strangle the suppliers with regulations or you kick up a black market again for uncertified weed.[/QUOTE] And while you're at it, don't let legal suppliers cut the product with "filler" or "bulk", otherwise you could end up getting an unhealthy(er) raw deal from every yes-man, bureaucrat and snake-oil salesman who decides to hop on the marijuana gravy train, which considering recent progress is bound to pull into London Victoria eventually. If I ever did the whole smoking thing, I wouldn't grab some dirty-cut prerolled smokes from the newsagents. Nah, I'd grab a pouch of the herb-of-choice and stick them in a pipe. Or alternatively get an electronic pipe that vaporizes herbal solutions, since that'd be the healthiest and probably softest option.

[QUOTE=H8Entitlement;45030641]But wouldn't that % change plant to plant? It might also vary depending on the location of the buds on the same plant... The only way I can see a practical application of content identification is to homogenize it (perhaps by chopping/ grinding fairly fine). Not sure how well that would go over.[/QUOTE] It would definitely be less reliable than ABV on a drink, but you could make it happen. Take clippings from 100 plants and find the average, and use that for further clippings?

[QUOTE=H8Entitlement;45030641]But wouldn't that % change plant to plant? It might also vary depending on the location of the buds on the same plant... The only way I can see a practical application of content identification is to homogenize it (perhaps by chopping/ grinding fairly fine). Not sure how well that would go over.[/QUOTE] Then have each plant tested, marked, and packaged in separate packages. It would be a pain, but these things have to be meticulous if we don't want people tearing medical marijuana apart and trying to keep it illegal.

[QUOTE=H8Entitlement;45030641]But wouldn't that % change plant to plant? It might also vary depending on the location of the buds on the same plant... [B]The only way I can see a practical application of content identification is to homogenize it (perhaps by chopping/ grinding fairly fine). Not sure how well that would go over.[/B][/QUOTE] Usually to test food calories, the company that makes a food product grinds their product up and burns it to measure how much energy it has and determine the calories there. I bet its the same they'd do with weed. Take some of a batch of weed, then test that, then use the results as the content amount for that batch of weed.

Does the FDA not cover medical marijuana?

[QUOTE=Helix Snake;45031532]Does the FDA not cover medical marijuana?[/QUOTE] Technically speaking there's no such thing as medical marijuana (in America). There are states that have decriminalized it- but their laws in such matters are trumped by federal law. Federally they haven't acknowledged medical uses yet, which would then trigger medical legal protections. As it stands you can be discrimated against in your job because you have a prescription for weed. If the FDA recognized it had medical uses that couldn't happen. It also makes quality control regulation difficult- as that is normally an FDA thing...

It's interesting how much priorities have shifted now that pot has been legalized in a few states. A couple years ago, people wouldn't have given a shit (at least not enough to break through the noise) about whether it's ACTUALLY medically helpful, because a sizable number of people buying medical pot are just trying to get around the law for recreational weed, and hell even most of the dispensaries knew it. Now that there's no excuse to fake your way into a dispensary, people are actually paying attention to the medical side.

If people want the CBD side of weed, why don't people use extracted oils with high contents of it? Hell it ain't even legal here in Denmark and I can get >30% CBD hemp oil oil but these morons are smoking buds from a plant that varies [I]every single[/I] generation unless it's cloned(Which is not sustainable)

[QUOTE=kaskade700;45033615]If people want the CBD side of weed, why don't people use extracted oils with high contents of it? Hell it ain't even legal here in Denmark and I can get >30% CBD hemp oil oil but these morons are smoking buds from a plant that varies [I]every single[/I] generation unless it's cloned(Which is not sustainable)[/QUOTE] Because that would still require testing to make sure its really the right stuff.

[QUOTE=Sableye;45034391]Because that would still require testing to make sure its really the right stuff.[/QUOTE] easier to test a batch of oil compared to 400 individual plants I'm sure