The Importance of Cannabis Laboratory Safety Testing
Cannabis has a long history of medicinal use to relieve pain and improve mood. As more states legalize marijuana for medical or recreational use, lab testing is becoming increasingly important. Cannabis laboratory safety testing can determine whether cannabis products are safe to use. This process involves analyzing not only smokable flower but also manufactured products like edibles and concentrates, typically in a final form. There are multiple benefits of testing cannabis. Beyond regulatory requirements, here are reasons why it is so crucial for cannabis to be lab tested.
Why is Cannabis Laboratory Safety Testing Important?
When combined with taxes paid by licensed operators, the argument is that cannabis testing drives up cost to both the business and the consumer. However, there are considerable benefits to cannabis lab safety testing. Notable benefits to consumers include knowing the potency and purity of the cannabis product(s).
The most important benefit is that laboratory testing can tell you whether your cannabis is safe to use. If you are purchasing cannabis outside of the legal market, Certificates of Analysis are either nonexistent or are a forgery. With lab testing from a regulated lab, there is no need to wonder if your cannabis has contaminants like pesticides, heavy metals, molds, bacteria, et cetera. This is especially important for medical cannabis patients that may be immune compromised, as contaminated cannabis can potentially cause severe illness.
Moreover, just as a patient wants to know the dosage of a prescription pharmaceutical medication, cannabis lab safety testing will also inform a consumer of a product’s dosage, or potency, so that the amount of THC and other cannabinoids (and terpenes) are known every time you medicate or indulge. This applies to all cannabis products and is especially important for edibles with strict limits on dosage.
Cannabis testing is not only important for consumers, but for cannabis operators as well. For cultivators and manufacturers alike, a clean compliance Certificate of Analysis is the lifeblood of your product. Products released for sale to dispensaries must past final compliance testing; failure can cause operators significant capital loss, even when remediation can salvage a product.
The benefit for testing cannabis goes beyond selling the products. Ensuring that a product is free from contaminants or other harmful processing chemicals is Risk Management for any cannabis operator. Eventually, someone will sue a cannabis operator. Take for example the current recall situation in Michigan. If a consumer becomes ill and sustains injury from ingesting a recalled product, a lawsuit is almost guaranteed – with both the lab and the manufacturer potentially culpable for damages. Because the original results are in question, all recalled material must be either destroyed or, if possible, retested by a different laboratory.
How Do You Test Cannabis?
Lab testing is typically conducted by third party, ISO 17025 accredited independent laboratories, ensuring the process is impartial. These labs are often contracted by dispensaries, manufacturers, or distributors for two purposes – Research & Development (R&D) or Final Compliance Testing.
Research and Development, or Quality Assurance (QA), testing is useful for several reasons. QA testing can allow for cultivators to spot check the potency of raw cannabis flower, for extractors to check extraction efficiency or evaluate the potency of sourced bulk material before extraction, and for manufacturers to ensure compliance before labeling and packaging.
Compliance Testing is the final regulatory step before a product’s release for sale. While each cannabis-allowing state has its own requirement, compliance testing will include tests for cannabinoid potency, pesticide/fungicide residues, microbial contamination, residual processing chemicals, and the presence of heavy metals. In addition to chemical and microbial analysis, visual inspection of cannabis samples with a microscope ensures the absence of foreign material or visible mold. And based on the type of sample, labs may also conduct moisture analysis and/or water activity.
To evaluate cannabis and cannabis-derived products, a laboratory must collect sufficient sample for analysis. Lab technicians will then process a given sample depending on the type of analysis ordered by a customer. This processing typically involves solvent extraction and extract cleanup based upon the contents of the sample - as labs should not analyze a cannabis brownie the same way they would a raw flower sample. Validated processes vary based on sample type.
What Equipment Is Used for Lab Testing?
To complete all required testing, Cannabis Laboratories must be equipped with extremely sensitive (and expensive) analytical equipment. While the use of other types of analytical equipment is allowed, the following list is representative of the most commonly used equipment for a typical compliance batch:
Cannabis Testing Laboratories utilize highly sensitive analytical equipment to ensure the safety of each batch sample tested.
Selection of each instrument is based on its analytical capabilities for a given test type. And as previously mentioned, labs use different analytical methods on these instruments for distinct sample types.
Who Should be Testing Cannabis?
While alcohol/beverage companies can conduct compliance testing at an in-house laboratory, the cannabis industry is not so lucky. To prevent fraud and ensure consumer safety, all state regulators require cannabis safety testing labs to be independently owned (meaning owners cannot hold a stake in any other cannabis business type) and accredited to the latest ISO 17025 standard. In addition to requiring ISO accreditation, laboratories must meet other requirements enacted by state regulators and are subject to inspection by governing regulatory bodies at any time.
What Lab Tests Should Be Performed on Cannabis?
As previously mentioned, cannabis products require multiple types of analysis to ensure their use is safe for human consumption. The most common tests include screening for pesticides and microbial contaminants in cannabis flowers and residual solvents in cannabis extracts. Manufactured products like edibles also require testing to ensure dosage compliance.
Cultivators will use pesticides to kill insects or other predatory organisms that may infest cannabis crops. While we cannot always see pesticide residues, these chemicals can still cause health problems when smoked and inhaled. Though cannabis operators may argue that pesticides deemed safe for human consumption are used for other agricultural products, the effects inhaling combustion products from these compounds with cannabis has not been studied in the United States. For the sake of consumer safety, otherwise safe pesticides have regulatory action limits lower than typical USDA Certified Organic produce.
Microbial contaminants including mold, bacteria, and yeast can cause serious respiratory problems or infections; those who are immune compromised are at the greatest risk of infection.
Residual solvents refer to chemicals left over after production processes like distillation or extraction. While permitted extractors use volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like benzene and butane, manufacturers rarely list the use or presence of VOCs on a product label. Like pesticides, however, trace residual solvents can potentially cause lung damage if inhaled.
As a bioaccumulating plant, cannabis will absorb and retain contaminants found in soils and water. Extracted cannabis products can also pick up unwanted contaminants that leach from vape cartridges manufactured with low grade materials. Of particular concern is the accumulation of heavy metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic. If ingested, even at parts per million quantities, these heavy metals can have severe health consequences. Testing all cannabis and cannabis products for these and other heavy metals only ensures safe consumption.
Conclusion
For the long-term benefit of our industry, we must all see them importance of lab testing cannabis products. This process ensures the safety of our plants and manufactured products. It is important to know what’s in your cannabis, and laboratory testing is a way to ensure an informed consumer while also providing risk mitigation.
The next time you purchase a cannabis product, ask if it has been tested. Licensed dispensaries should show you a Certificate of Analysis if you ask; so, make sure you are getting the quality cannabis you deserve.
