A top product trend this year is the rise of solventless cannabis products, according to recent statistics from cannabis market analyst firm BDSA. In fact, from June 2021 to June 2022, BDSA research also showed that the category grew an average of 132% each month.
Copperstate Farms
Nearly all cannabis products start with cannabis concentrates, which are made with a solvent that contains the desirable compounds from cannabis. Solventless concentrates however are made from the cannabis flower without the use of any chemicals and are becoming popular among businesses and consumers. This broad category of cannabis products includes everything from hash to live rosin.
Mitch Lindback, Lab Director at Copperstate Farms, has been growing and extracting cannabis for 15 years and has over a decade of experience working with cannabis derivatives. “Solventless is the truest expression of the cannabis plant,” he says.
Copperstate Farms is one of the largest greenhouse cannabis producers in North America and home to 1.7 million square feet of canopy and 40 acres under glass. Here is an inside look into the company’s solventless creation process:
The Harvest
One of the most important growth factors in cannabis is light, so cannabis grown in full-spectrum light often brings the best flower to harvest. In the weeks before harvesting, the lab conducts a test wash on cannabis plants before hand-selecting which will be used in rosin. Plants are selected based on appearance, aroma and test wash results. On harvest day, all flowers are lightly hand-trimmed and frozen within two hours of harvest.
The Wash
The wash system
Using only chilled RO water and minimal ice, our cannabis extraction experts gently break the trichome heads off the fresh-frozen cannabis using a stainless-steel wash system, by gently agitating the flower. Then they collect the 73μ-159μ trichome heads while pushing the immature trichome heads and stalks to pass through collection bags with a cold spray wash.
The Press
After carefully freeze drying, sifting and packing the hash into double-wrapped mesh rosin bags, Copperstate Farms uses rosin presses to gently express the nectar from the trichome heads using a little heat and a lot of pressure.
The Cure
All live rosin goes through a minimum 7-day cure. “We have found through extensive analytical testing that curing rosin for a minimum of seven days increased its terpene content by over 30 percent,” Lindback says.
The final product: live rosin
The extensive process to create solventless cannabis products is time and energy intensive, but leads to quality offerings, like full melt hash and live rosin. In fact, the solventless category is “primed for premiumization and growth in legal cannabis markets,” according to BDSA retail sales analytics. This is especially true in the dabbable concentrate product category and predicted in the vaping concentrate category as well.
With popular annual holidays like 7/10 (the cannabis community’s holiday for celebrating oil products, dabs and concentrates) gaining traction, solventless products are predicted to grow in market share and are worth cannabis companies looking into producing as demand rises among consumers who are always looking for innovative products that feature solventless concentrate.
This is the fourth in a series of articles designed to introduce an integrated pest management framework for cannabis cultivation facilities. To see Part One, an overview of the plan and pest identification, click here. For Part Two, on pest monitoring and record keeping, click here. For Part Three, on preventative measures, click here. Part Five comes out next week on how to build a framework for control actions and how to monitor them. More to come!
This is Part 4: Direct Control Options
Even when the best methods are implemented and precautions are taken to protect your infrastructure, determined pests can penetrate your perimeter. Before you see crawling, hopping or flying insects, or sickly-looking plants, be sure to implement your physical protection (positive pressure airflow sealed facilities) and personal hygiene methods (shoe baths, sticky mats, & air shower entrances) to protect your crops. Equip your employees with personal protection equipment (PPE) proper gloves, masks and clothing as discussed in our last chapter, preventative measures.
Figure 1: Fungus Gnats Unleashed In A Grow Room
When things do break-out beyond your acceptable thresholds, Direct Control Options include non-chemical microbial biofungicides, microbial bioinsecticides and direct chemical control options. Lots of big scary words there, all of which are toxic even under safe application methods and when used at recommended concentrations levels. This means training in their use and protective clothing is required. Careful application of these control options is necessary so you exterminate your pests and not your people! This seems obvious, but do not just “wing it.”
These chemical elements can be applied in diluted concentration levels, manual wipe-down application, concentrated flush frequencies, or root drench applications, foliar spray mist applications, HVAC aerial diffusions and aerial knock-down sprays. You may even choose to remove badly infected plants and destroy them completely.
Use experts when you are planning for these tools. All of these methods require handling and safety precautions. Proper breathing filters, eye & skin protection, as well as disposable gowns/hazmat suits should be used when applications are performed and until the applications have dissipated to safe levels. Be careful not to co-mingle removed plant materials. Gloves become transport and infection spreaders after use.
Please also be sure to review your harvest testing requirements and what treatments are safe for your consumers and within legal limits. No one wants to have their harvest rejected due to pesticide contamination.
Figure 2: Municipal Water Treatment, RAIR Cannabis, Michigan
Clean-up after application may be required depending on the bioinsecticide or chemical that is used. Again, always ensure the safety of your employees and take precautions.
Start the application of your control options with your site map, room assignments and scout monitoring teams. Where does air flow into and within the facility? When your scouting team count logs go beyond your acceptable thresholds, here are some options for you.
Let’s begin with cleaning your irrigation and nutrient water sources. For a walk-through tutorial for incoming water treatment, humidity recovery and nutrient water recycling, please review the video tour of Water Treatment at RAIR Cannabis to see how an expert has done it.
From the IPM Planning Guide standpoint, peroxide and acid sterilizers can be used to clear irrigation water, for surface wipe-downs or as direct plant applications. We will cover those first. Caustic sterilizers require PPE for cleaning. Forgive my image here, we were just using water.
Plant interacting interfaces, i.e. surfaces, benches, walls, floors, trays, utensils, clippers, etc. should be sterilized with every use. Methods can include direct wipe-down or scrub, concentrated or diluted sprays or room vaporizers. A good example of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) liquid would be a food grade sanitizer with 3-35% H2O2 content. Use acceptable diluted versions of these cleaners as appropriate.
Figure 3: Cleaning & Scrubbing, Where’s the PPE?
A commercial example would be Zerotol 2.0 with 27% H2O2 & their proprietary acid mix. Alternatively, you can use direct hydrogen peroxide generators from commercial sources to generate your H2O2 at various concentrations. More detailed examples are included in the complete Integrated Pest Management Guide (link at the end of this article). Establish your procedures for sterilizing your rooms and tools before you introduce plants, and describe what is to be done after every harvest and room turn. Track the cleaning materials used for your operational records. You will find this useful to track operational cost over time.
Sanitizing Acids for Surfaces & Irrigation Sources
Similar to hydrogen peroxide, hypochlorous acid (HOCl) comes in many commercial forms and can also be generated onsite using purchased generators. Commercial mix examples are UC Roots, Watermax and Athena Cleanse. They come in 0.028% to 15% concentrations. Self-generators range in output from highly precise 0.01% to 1% concentrations with more examples in the guide.
Treatment Tools
OK, so enough on cleaning preparation. Here are some tools that can be used to fight back against a pest intrusion:
Non-Chemical Microbial Biofungicide for Pathogens in Soil or Fertigation Water
Microbial fungicides are available to clear nutrient irrigation systems by minimizing pathogens and improving plant resistance to infections. Some fungicide versions target root pathogens by attacking the diseases directly. Others control or suppress common water carried challenges like pythium, rhizoctonia, phytophthora, fusarium and others. Brand names include Botanicare, Bonide, BioWorks, Actinovate, Mycostop and many more. Details covered in the guide.
Non-Chemical Microbial Bioinsecticides for Larval Stages
These biological tools attack the organisms or insects at a physical or mechanical way by breaking down the pest’s nervous system, biochemistry, or structural integrity (exoskeletons, etc.). These are engineered or living organisms (bugs to attack bugs) that are developed as targeted attacks for specific pests. Brand names are BioCeres, Botanigard, Venerate, Bio Solutions and others.
Minimal Risk Chemical Pesticides for Airborne Critters
Figure 3: Example Fungus Gnat Infestation – Royal Queen Seeds blog
Regularly approved for used in most locales, essential oils, natural acids (like citric acid) and insecticidal soap are commonly available in every hydroponic store. These work very well as safe spray “knock-down” insecticides for crawling or flying pests. Commercial examples use a proprietary mix of various oils, citric acids or isopropyl alcohol to do their task (examples in guide). Insecticidal soaps and fungicides for surface cleaning perform a similar purpose and typically use potassium salts or fatty acid mixtures.
Biochemical Pesticides
These tools are used to inhibit insect or fungal growth to acceptable levels. The multifaceted and commonly used neem oil comes in many commercial versions and is a naturally occurring pesticide extracted from the leaves and seeds of the neem tree. Example brand names are Bonide, Monterey, Triact and others. They range in concentrations from 0.9% to 70% concentrations. These oils suffocate living organisms or eliminate moisture to kill insects, spores or fungus at their initiation and throughout their lifespan.
Another option here are Azadirachtins. These act as insect growth regulators and disrupt the bugs natural evolution. Brand names are AzaGuard, AzaMax and others in the guide.
In summary, this week
We summarized some of the many pest control options available for water treatment, soil borne, intermediate or flying pests. We also covered various concentrations for these pesticide and sterilizer options. If you are not familiar with dilution ratios, %, PPM terms and how to apply the correct level of pesticide, you may find our plant science test kitchen blog on this topic of use here.
Chemical access and use should be restricted to employees familiar with their authorized application. PPE is very important to protect any employee that will come in contact with materials, liquids or vapors for chemical resources (gloves, boots, respirators, Tyvek (or equivalent protective wear) suits and eye protection or goggles.
For more detail on each of these treatments, you can see examples for your integrated pest management procedures in our complete white paper for Integrated Pest Management Recommendations, download the document here.
In our next chapter, Pest Population Control Actions, we will review control thresholds and example plans for a range of problems from biofilm build up to white flies and more. Our final chapter after that will suggest an emergency response framework and how to address pest outbreaks. See you next week.
Cannabis brands are facing a proverbial fork in the road: determining whether their product evolves into a luxury consumable or affordable agricultural commodity. While it is reasonable to assume the cannabis market space will organically grow into a luxury goods industry such as wine and spirits, the luxury brands that serve as the foundation of these markets were built over years of engagement between consumers, connoisseurs and producers. If cannabis companies want to successfully market their products as luxury items, a concerted effort towards well-defined, consumer-accessible branding is required.
The first step towards evolving a cannabis brand towards luxury is overcoming the fixation on cultivar identity. Unregulated cultivar naming currently impedes creativity and craftsmanship, disrupting brands and salespersons’ abilities to clearly communicate strain aesthetics.
The good news is the alcohol, coffee and consumer packaged food (CPG) industries have done most of the heavy lifting, paving the way with robust sensory science and analytical approaches to product characterization. Cannabis stakeholders need only adapt their tools and apply them to cannabis with similar intention.
Research suggests that aroma is one of the strongest predictors of positive consumption experience. As adult use consumers become familiar with current product offerings and increasingly legal availability, they will seek products that consistently yield the best experience. The most successful brands will be those that most effectively communicate that experience and then deliver it. The status quo – describing aroma using strain names, top terpenes or THC content – is not effective at harmonizing a brand’s promise with consumer experience.
Figure 1: Illustration of both the conventional branding approach (top) and the sensory-based branding opportunity (bottom).
The conventional cannabis product branding approach leaves to be desired a tremendous opportunity to characterize cultivars (Figure 1). Sensory science, the discipline used to evoke, measure, analyze and interpret reactions to materials through human perception, has been used for decades to characterize CPGs from skin lotion to washing machines. Adapting these well-established techniques for use in cannabis can be challenging, but it is certainly worth the investment.
These shifts in the cannabis industry have already begun to occur. I recently was the principle investigator on a white paper that presented a novel cannabis aroma wheel derived from aroma descriptors and a panel of trained sensory experts. In the study, sensory scientists evaluated randomly sampled cannabis flower over a period of several months. The researchers combined qualitative focus panels, literature review and formal blinded sensory tests to develop a comprehensive lexicon that served as a tool for trained evaluators to characterize cannabis aroma. This novel and robust tool (Figure 2) was designed to be used by trained panels to characterize cannabis aroma, is freely available and is just the beginning of a collective development of a data-driven cannabis lexicon.
Much like the World Coffee Research Lexicon referenced here, the Cannabis Aroma Lexicon is a tool with a specific purpose: collecting an objective description of the product aroma. It is a living document that will grow along with the industry. In the future, we may have lexicons to describe more than just aroma. Tactile and appearance sensory attributes of cannabis will gradually be defined by sensory scientists, presenting more opportunities for deep craftsmanship in the cannabis industry.
Figure 2: Expert-derived aroma wheel tool for cannabis aroma characterization.
The role that dispensaries play in adoption of standardized quality metrics is critical. The product features that position cannabis to be a craft product warrant the presence of a third-party expert to translate and guide consumers during the purchasing process. It’s intuitive to ask a waiter to recommend a pairing (i.e., a dry red wine to pair with a seafood dish), given the trust that consumers put in the restaurant to understand the properties of the food they are serving. Dispensaries have thus far filled the service structure role for cannabis, but the vast amount of unknowns regarding the physiological and sensorial effects of cannabis have resulted in inconsistent experiences that leave something to be desired in terms of consumer trust.
Application of sensory science in cannabis is an unparalleled opportunity for brands to build consumer trust and differentiate their products in a sea of strain names and high potency flower. Cultivars that can be established as measurably aromatic in a specific character can leverage that aroma profile to add significant value to the product. For example:
Cultivar name can be aligned with the perceived aroma (e.g., garlic is not bad, but expecting tropical and getting garlic can harm consumer trust).
Product catalog can be consolidated and optimized to avoid sales cannibalization by growing specific products to meet consumer group’s needs.
Guesswork is removed from breeding by measuring when a product is meeting sensory goals and ensuring it doesn’t drift over time.
Demonstrating transparency will win over ethical consumers. Utilizing controlled, blinded studies to profile aromas will add value to ethics-minded consumers.
Becoming a leader in connoisseurship. In the forefront of this shift in branding, one can position a brand to be ahead of the competition.
Elevating the dispensary experience. By utilizing aroma profiling, products can be more easily sold by budtenders and salespeople.
Opening doors to new application types (e.g., seasonal, occasion centered or geographically unique cultivars).
These are just some of the ways that aroma characterization will differentiate products and simultaneously contribute to cannabis brands’ ability to communicate craftsmanship and the maturity of the industry as whole. Not only will adoption of robust sensory-based branding improve the consumer experience by providing a means to compare products to one another, it will promote adoption of good manufacturing practices that simultaneously improve the quality and safety of cannabis products. Without consumer-accessible quality metrics, brands have little incentive to produce products of elevated quality and are conversely incentivized to prioritize quantity and meet minimum regulatory requirements.
Importantly, cannabis businesses will use this tool to adapt to an inevitable industry-wide shift towards connoisseurship and application of robust sensory science. While it may be challenging to shake off the “bad habits” that currently plague many brands, cannabis has significant potential as a luxury good. Consumers are eager for a better cannabis experience from purchase to consumption. How will your brand use sensory profiling to expand or evolve product offerings to succeed in a cannabis market full of luxury brands and what steps will you take now to prepare?
Cannabis sales in the United States are expected to hit $100 billion by 2030, and yet dispensary owners still face hurdles before getting up and running, namely obtaining the right insurance coverage. Unlike a coffee shop or clothing store, it can be difficult to secure the insurance coverage needed to satisfy the requirements prescribed by the state and/or commercial leasing agreements.
Yet a simple answer to the dilemma exists. Increasing demand for cannabis business owner policies has prompted some retail insurance brokers to provide convenient turnkey solutions via digital commercial insurance platforms. These platforms circumvent the traditional underwriting process that could trudge on for weeks, allowing cannabis businesses to ramp up operations sooner.
Currently about 30% of insurance customers interact with and purchase from their insurance provider digitally for their business needs. This can be a game changer for a fast-growing cannabis business operator.
What do you need to obtain insurance online?
Obtaining insurance online lets dispensaries secure a complete, holistic insurance policy in one quick pass to cover the industry’s unique risks.
Increasing demand for cannabis policies has prompted some insurance brokers to offer digital solutions
Like any other commercial business package policy, you’ll need to provide details about your business and its operations when harnessing a digital insurance platform.
The first piece of information needed will be proof of licensing with the applicable state or commonwealth where the business operates. This piece is critical since cannabis is still illegal at the federal level. In addition, businesses will need to have other basic data on hand before finding coverage online, including:
The legal name of the business
Tax identification number
Operating locations
Annual or monthly sales projections
Number of employees
A Closer Look at Cannabis Coverages
Crime, extreme wealth conditions and legal challenges count among the risks faced by cannabis dispensaries. Here are three essential coverages important for cannabis business owners and operators.
Commercial property insurance.Owned cannabis dispensary properties can face perils such as fire, storms, theft and vandalism. Buildings hold value and need to be repaired or replaced if any adverse events occur. Leased properties may contain equipment and fixtures owned by the business and subject to the very same hazards. Commercial property coverage can help cover the cost of replacing business contents and inventory if damaged through a peril covered by the policy.
General liability insurance. Cannabis retail outlets experience a high volume of foot traffic from customers, vendors and technicians, for example. As such, trips, slips and falls could occur and lead to lawsuits. General liability insurance helps cover legal defense costs should any of these parties seek to recover compensatory damages from accidents and mishaps on the property or occurring elsewhere in a business-related capacity.
Product liability coverage. Issues such as quality control with infused products and concentrates can be a concern for cannabis purveyors. Lawsuits arising from mislabeled or improperly tested products likewise need to be defended by cannabis businesses. Comprehensive product liability coverage can meet the needs of cannabis dispensaries promoting and selling a unique variety of product offerings.
Outside the standard commercial package offering, dispensaries can opt for coverage such as business interruption insurance, which helps pay overhead costs if the operation must temporarily cease due to a covered peril.
Cannabis businesses also often need to retain workers compensation insurance that helps pay for lost time and/or medical bills incurred by employees who become ill or injured on the job. Commercial crime policies help cover losses that may occur on premises or in transit in a cash-centric business.
If cannabis industry owners and managers use an online platform for their insurance needs, they could secure a certificate of insurance in as little as 24-48 hours. HUB’s digital commercial insurance platform, powered by Insureon, is one such direct-to-consumer solution. The platform is ideal for licensed retail cannabis dispensaries in all legal US states.
Ten years ago, “cannabis packaging” didn’t extend very far beyond throwing buds into a plastic baggie – in fact, the term wasn’t even really a recognizable category. The lack of product packaging attention-to-detail was understandable at the time; the industry was still predominantly underground, and brands were much more focused on staying afloat amidst global prohibition and crackdowns.
Fast forward to today’s cannabis landscape, and it’s practically unrecognizable. Brands have figured out that, not only is proper cannabis packaging essential for providing consumers with a safe, reliable product, but it offers businesses an inimitable opportunity for marketing to their audience and establishing brand identity.
Because of this, the legal industry has gotten increasingly creative and playful with their packaging, using the space to connect with their audience, leave a lasting mark and obtain that covetable consumer loyalty the retail world is always hungry for.
The beginnings of cannabis packaging: Preserving integrity in a growing market
I entered the cannabis world as a home grower – exclusively for my brother, who has pretty intense cerebral palsy and gets tremendous medicinal relief from the plant. I’ve been growing for him for years, and in my earlier days I found myself losing a lot of cannabis to the elements as time passed: mold, pests, etc. I figured there had to be a better way to preserve what I was cultivating for long-term storage.
After visiting a dispensary in Colorado to get some ideas, I realized all of their packaging was overkill. It didn’t do anything to actually nurture the plant, or give it what it needs for successful lasting preservation. So, I got even more interested.
I started looking into what chemically happens to cannabis after you dry it and I discovered there was no real information on the topic yet. So, my team and I started looking into how we could contribute to this arena – sort of creating this whole new category and awareness around curating, storage, long-term plant viability, shelf life and conditions for quality cannabis.
We looked at a variety of elements for proper packaging – like UV protection, humidity and moisture control, odor control and oxygen control – and worked hard to develop some materials that would factor in all of these considerations for an end-goal that I believe should be universal.
When it comes to cannabis packaging, the most important thing you should be thinking about is integrity throughout the supply chain: delivering products to patients in the way that it was intended to be delivered from the grower for optimal medical results.
Proper packaging is critical for the industry. It contributes to operational efficiency, eliminates waste, maintains full moisture and humidity rates and helps businesses protect their bottom line.
It allows operators to deliver better, more viable and more potent medicine to patients – and that is absolutely what’s most important. Giving patients the full efficacy of the plant, unadulterated and unmolested by the supply chain.
Utilizing cannabis packaging as a powerful marketing tool
That’s how cannabis packaging was first developed – to protect products and keep them safe and effective for consumers. Since then, the sector has totally evolved to encompass even more elements. There’s a lot more education about drying and curing, and how to preserve the integrity of cannabis as it moves from seed to sale.
Brands have also started recognizing a dual opportunity alongside safe cannabis packaging: an effective means for marketing and advertising. In a space where we’re so restricted on how we market our brands, having great packaging is beautiful, convenient and reminds the patient of the brand behind the product they’re currently enjoying.
This is a critical opportunity for brands to cement their reputation and form a relationship between themselves and their clients. “Consumer loyalty” is a magic term that a lot of brands are chasing today, and the biggest way to achieve that is with consistent, high-quality packaging that allows operators to maintain integrity within a supply chain they just can’t control.
Cannabis packaging is the consumer’s first reaction to your product. It’s the plating. And the way it’s presented has a major effect on how customers view your brand. Think of your packaging as a type of billboard: every consumer carrying around a branded bag of your pre-rolls is a walking advertisement and ultimately an ambassador.
The 12-inch vinyl LP cover art of our generation is the one-eighth flower pack. Just like those records are all music, these packages are all cannabis, but these brilliant creatives all over the world are getting to attack an identical canvas with radically-different approaches and aesthetics.
It’s a ubiquitous thing – like designing a watch. From Timex to Rolex, all of these brands have been creating iterations from the same basic layout to do the same basic thing: tell time. That is constraining, but it also pushes people to get really innovative and imaginative.
In the cannabis realm this is just the beginning of utilizing packaging for brand identity and loyalty. Innovating your cannabis packaging provides an incredible framework for seeing different ideas and inspirations come to life. It’s a cannabis collaboration with artists in its most newborn infancy and there’s a lot of exciting potential there. Beyond a billboard and a brand voice, packaging is a keeper of the quality, consistency and potency your customer deserves.
This is the third in a series of articles designed to introduce an integrated pest management framework for cannabis cultivation facilities. To see Part One, click here. For Part Two, click here. Part Four comes out next week and covers direct control options for pest reduction. More to come!
This is Part 3: Preventive Measures
Preventive measures are a great investment in the profitability of your operations. Our objective is to ensure successful repeat harvests forever. Build your procedures with this in mind. This means maintenance and regular review. We all realize that this work can be monotonous drudgery (we know!), but these procedures will ensure your success.
Figure 1: New Air Shower Access Installation
As a summary to begin, pest access must be limited wherever possible. Employees are the first place to start, but we must also return to our site map and review our facility design and workflows. Every operation has to move plants from nursery through harvest and post-harvest. Where should cleaning happen? Of course, you have to clean up post-harvest but when should this occur during the grow cycle? What is the best way to monitor and clean environmental management systems (i.e. air, water) and what are the weaknesses in the physical barriers between operations? Let’s walk through these issues one-by-one.
Employee Access and Sterile Equipment
Follow procedures to screen and protect your employees both to eliminate pests and to avoid exposing your employees to harmful chemicals or storage areas. Look for ways to isolate your workflow from pest access. Be certain that your facility is airtight and sealed with filtration of molds, spores and live organisms in your air intake areas. Air showers at your access points are important to screen your employees on their way into your gowning areas and grow facility. Clothing should be standardized and shoe coverings or crocs should be provided for all employees that access your interior. Look for ways to stop all pests (embedded, crawling, hopping or flying) in all of your room assignments (mothers, clone, veg, flower, trim and drying). This can be improved with shoe baths, sticky mats, frequent hygiene (hand washing and cleaning stations) and procedures for entry.
Always consider requiring hair & beard nets, shoe covers and disposable gloves in plant sensitive areas.
Chemical Access & Protective Equipment
Figure 2: Example Facility Map – Understand Workflow & Barriers to Pest Access
Personal protection equipment (PPE) is very important to protect any employee that will come in contact with materials, liquids or vapors for chemical resources. Establish procedures for chemical use and train employees in the safe handling of these materials. Typical equipment includes high density chemical protective gloves, boots, respirators, Tyvek (or equivalent protective wear) suits and eye protection or goggles.
Chemical access areas and their use should be restricted to employees familiar with their authorized application. Always remember that cannabis is an accumulator plant, and it will absorb and hold onto chemical treatments. Appropriate isolation and safety procedures must be followed for chemical use. Not following these restrictions can expose your employees to dangerous chemicals or get your entire harvests rejected at testing.
Facility Map & Workflow
Because insects would like to be everywhere and they come in many types (root zone, crawling, flying, microscopic, bacterial or biofilm), the facility workflow must understand where they are and how they might migrate if they penetrate your defenses. Note airflows in your rooms and fan locations so migrations can be predicted once an infestation is located. Where are your opportunities for full clean-up and disaster recovery in your building? Where should you stage maintenance filters, test kits, water and cleaning materials. How best to clean up and dispose of sealed garbage containers or cleaning materials?
Operational Cleaning & Post-Harvest Reset
When compiling your preventative measure documents, it is critical to create a repeatable operating procedure for cleaning and sanitizing your rooms, systems, and growing spaces after each harvest. Plant material handling, cleaning surfaces and wipe methods should all be documented in your Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Define what “clean” is. Removing plants and plant debris is pretty clear but define how to drain reservoirs, clean pipes, change filters and clean and sterilize your rooms. Operators must be trained in these SOPs and reminded of their content on a regular schedule. This is how you avoid outbreaks that can crush your profits.
Physical Barriers & Maintenance
Figure 3: HVAC Air Filtration, Dehumidification, & Air Movement, Onyx Agronomics
Document your sealed spaces and define your normal room and access door barrier interfaces. Review the status of any known cracks or gaps in your perimeter. Are there any known leaks or piping that has been seen as a risk or a problem in the past? Are there any discoloring or resident mold locations (Never happens, right?). Baseline how much time and people resource a harvest operation and cleaning effort should take. Will you do this after every harvest or compromise your risk by delaying to every third or fourth harvest? Create your barrier SOP.
Environmental Control & HVAC
Managing the air quality provided to your plants is critical to your yields. Controlling CO2, air movement rates (the leaf happy dance), humidity, air filtration and sterilization methods must be maintained and cleaned on a regular basis. Do you need to change the HEPA or other particulate filters? Is there any UV light sterilization maintenance? We have all seen the home HVAC air conduit cleaning commercials. Your commercial facility is no different. How will you clean your air and water plumbing systems? How often will you perform this full reset? When will you calibrate and data log your sensors for temperature, humidity, CO2 and water resources? Put everything about your environmental set points into your maintenance document and decide when to validate these. Molds, mildews and biofilm hazards are all waiting for unmonitored systems to open the door for access.
In Conclusion, This Week
If you’re an IPM nerd and this dynamic topic did not put you to sleep, you can read more detail and examples for your integrated pest management procedures in ourcomplete white paper for Integrated Pest Management Recommendations, download the document here.
In our next chapter, Direct Control Options, we will review what you can use to protect or recover control of your facility including both chemical and non-chemical tools and methods. In our final two chapters, we will discuss extermination of the determined pests that breach your defenses. And with great expectations, our final chapter will discuss emergency response and time to go to war!
Part Four comes out next week. See you again soon!
This is the second part of a series of articles designed to introduce an integrated pest management framework for cannabis cultivation facilities. To see Part One, click here. Part Three comes out next week and covers prioritization and preventative measures. Stay tuned for more!
This is Part 2: Pest Monitoring, Record Keeping, & Communications
Begin your pest identification process with a pest scouting document. You have already mapped out your facility with locations and potential access locations. For each of these pest types and room type assignments (mothers, clone, veg, flower), identify your employee scouts, their scouting methods, scouting frequency and the type of likely pest they are to search for and count.
Insect Types and Tracking Methods
Figure 1: Example Sticky Trap Scouting Map
Insect pest types include, but are not limited to, airborne flying or crawling insects, their various egg, lymph, larvae, pupal shells or immature forms. Look for trace remnants, plant damage or feces that let you know they are present in some form. If they are at the mature jumping or flying stage, this can be harder to count, but sticky traps distributed on an even basis around your rooms can make the counting process more consistent from survey to survey.
Note airflows in your rooms and fan locations so migrations can be predicted once an infestation is located.
Insects Can Be Everywhere – Crawlers & Fliers
Insects would like to be everywhere so they come in many types from the obvious flying and crawling types to root-zone microscopic, aquatic, fungal, bacterial or biofilm based. For those of you using soil or media, root-zone insects can be beneficial by digesting and breaking down organic matter into something useful for your plant’s roots (earthworms) or harmful by feeding directly on your plant roots and sucking the life out of your plants from out-of-sight below (nematodes, maggots).
Common pests in a cannabis environment include:
White flies – Oval shaped eggs on the underside of leaves, nymphs- oval crawlers that suck on the undersides of leaves, larger stage nymphs with pupae shells as they form wings and mature white flies.
Fungus gnats – Clear eggs deposited in overly wet soil or dead plant matter. Clear or white colored larvae in the soil or media, these worm-like critters go through multiple stages of molting as they grow, eventually pupating into brown cocoons and finally small black or dark flies with clear wings that flutter around your plants and suck on your leaves.
The dreaded spider mite – Clear, hard to see eggs on the underside of your leaves. These six-legged tiny moving bubbles begin the feeding as larva, add 2 legs in the intermediate and mature nymph stages and finally the oval shaped spider mites that every grower despises, adding their webs around the tops of your plants as their nurseries suck the life out of your flowers.
Insect Transfers of Bacterial Infections
Figure 2: The Dreaded Spider Mite
Many crawlers or fliers you may discover in your grow operation do not generate fungus or bacteria on their own. However, they do routinely pick these up along the feeding way and bring them into your shop. Sap-feeding insects like leafhoppers and aphids use their needle mouths to pierce your leaves to suck on the sap that is nourishing your greenery. These insects consume the fluids and transfer bacteria as they feed. Whiteflies fit into this category of leaf sucking bacteria carrying pests. These pests can make your healthy grow rooms look blotchy with color drained out of your canopy.
Obvious symptoms of these flying/hopping pests are sticky leaves, black fungus mold, or yellowing leaves that show up at the bottom of your plants and work their way upward as the infestation progresses. Leaf curling or plant wilting will be visible in the more advanced stages of these pests.
As if crawlers were not bad enough, invisible fungus and bacteria that get into your water supplies can be the worst challenges of any grow.
Water Sourced Bacteria
Baseline testing of your feed water is critical for any facility. This is true whether you are using surface water, well water or municipal water. Please see the water tutorials on the AEssenseGrows website for details on how to test your water sources and what to look for in the mineral content.
Regardless of your water source, bacteria can be present directly in your water supply, or it can be introduced from infected plant materials from one of your suppliers. Pythium, fusarium and the latest plague, hop latent viroid, are some of the most common threats that attack your plants from your water or soil sources. These can come from your wells, feed lines or plant materials.
Reverse osmosis (RO) is a typical method to clear water of most pathogens and bacteria using water that is pressed through filters with very small membrane apertures. These small openings usually stop impurities, salts and microorganisms. Of course, these systems come in many different types and they have to be maintained to keep their performance quality. Don’t take shortcuts on your RO system.
Once your water source is clean, strict hygiene procedures for tools, equipment and plumbing are the best way to minimize these threats to your plants downstream from your water source. These cleaning efforts are not a guarantee. Pests can still get into even the best facilities. Symptoms of these maladies vary, but root rot, stunted growth, wilting, discolored roots or leaves, and in some cases, the quick death of your plants is possible depending on the critter.
Use your scouting regimen and your data mapping to locate infestations before they expand and damage your facility. Isolate outbreaks and take appropriate measures to address the pests. We will give you suggestions on prioritization and preventative measures to take in the next chapter.
Figure 3: Example Pythium Brown Roots
Pythium is one of the most commonly harbored soil or water carried pests. When it is present and gets into your plants through cuts, natural openings, root surfaces or leaves on weakened plants, it can be devastating. In hydroponic systems, dirty looking brown roots evolve into full root rot if not addressed. Pythium is often the cause. In soil operations, pythium often shows up as wilting or yellowing patches on leaves.
Your lab testing partners are your friends when it comes to bacterial or fungal infections. Many diseases can resemble one another. It is not hard to misdiagnose environmental stress such as overheating or overwatering for a bacterial problem. Test results are necessary to accurately diagnose a problem.
Truly Airborne Molds & Mildews
Pythium and fusarium are not just present in water. They can also be airborne. Grey mold (botrytis) and powdery mildew are also common airborne pests. Proper humidity, air movement, air filtration and sterilization using HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filters, activated carbon filters (also filter smells) and UV light sterilization can minimize these problems in your grow. Powdery mildew is the primary evil spore in this category. Airflow and regular cleaning to discourage fungal growth is the best way to limit these pests.
In conclusion, this week
Now that we have talked about identification (and clearly, this is not an exhaustive list), we will move into how to build in the cultural methods to prevent these problems from taking hold and ruining your business. In later chapters, we will dive into prioritization, treatment and control options for infestations, finally moving into control actions and emergency response.
Your integrated management response is how you pull all of this together and use your IPM procedures to increase your profitability. For the complete white paper on Integrated Pest Management Recommendations, download the document here.
Part three comes out next week and will delve into the world of Preventative Measures. Stay tuned for more!
Inexpensive in vitro Methods to Evaluate the Impact of Cannabinoid-containing Products on Sentinel Lactobacillus spp.
S. Lewin 1, A. Hilyard2, H. Piscatelli1, A. Hangman1, D. Petrik1, P. Miles2, and C. Orser2
1MatMaCorp Inc, Lincoln NE; 2Apothercare LLC, Boston MA
Abstract
The public has readily embraced cannabidiol (CBD) in countless unregulated products that benefit from commercial promotion without FDA oversight, who recently concluded: “that a new regulatory pathway for CBD is needed that balances individuals’ desire for access to CBD products w/ the regulatory oversight is needed to manage risks.”1 The reported antimicrobial properties of CBD combined with the recent proliferation of cannabinoid-containing products marketed to women for intimate care led us to explore the impact on the sentinel lactobacilli species associated with a healthy reproductive tract. Except for lubricants and tampons, the FDA regulates intimate care products as cosmetics. Even non-cannabis serums, washes, and suppositories are not required to be tested for their effect on the reproductive microbiota. We aimed to investigate the utility of easy-to-use, inexpensive in vitro assays for testing exogenous cannabis products on reproductive microbiota. In vitro assays can provide important evidence-based data to inform both manufacturers choosing both an active cannabinoid ingredient source as well as excipient chemicals and consumers in the absence of safety or quality data. In simple, straightforward exposure studies, we examined the antimicrobial activity of CBD and cannabigerol (CBG) on the most dominant vaginal lactobacilli species, L. crispatus, associated with good health.
Introduction
The testing of readily available products containing cannabinoids, predominately CBD following the widespread legalization of hemp by the 2018 US Farm Bill, is not required beyond ensuring THC content is below 0.3%. Therefore, basic information on safety, quality, antimicrobial activity, bioavailability, and dosing is unavailable and undocumented. The situation is further complicated by the complex chemoprofiles of cannabis extracts based on the cultivar, the extraction methods and subsequent cleanup, and other chemical excipients in the formulation. The FDA has finalized guidance on quality considerations for clinical research for the development of cannabis and cannabis-containing drugs intended for human use.
One approach to backfilling non-existent safety and quality data for cannabinoid active ingredients and those products made from them is to apply or devise assays that can provide relevant toxicity data in an in vitrosystem. Farha et al. (2020) reported that seven cannabinoids are potent antibiotics, including CBD and synthetic CBG. CBG inhibited the growth of gram-positive bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), but not gram-negative bacteria unless their outer membrane was permeabilized (Farha et al. 2020). In addition, several volatile terpenes, the main constituents of essential oils extracted from Cannabis sativa L., also have potent antibiotic activity against gram-positive bacteria (Iseppi et al. 2019). We have previously written about the risks associated with disrupting the healthy microbiome of gram-positive vaginal bacterial species leading to dysbiosis (Orser 2022) and its further health complications.
Several successful approaches to assessing the toxicity of CBD have already been reported including human cell culture work by Torres et al. (2022) who showed that pure CBD has a repeatable impact on cell viability, but that hemp-derived finished CBD products had variable impact. Cultured human cell viability experiments demonstrated similar potencies across three different hemp-derived CBD products in the microgram per milliliter [mg/mL] range with increased viability at lower doses [2-4 mg/mL] and decreasing cell viability above 6 mg/mL (Torres et al. 2022). In the same study, the authors demonstrated that the presence of terpenes, specifically b-caryophyllene, in hemp extraction matrices also impacted cell viability.
Neswell, a cannabis therapeutics company in Israel, demonstrated through the application of their in vitroneutrophil cell line that cannabis extracts have inherent immune response biodiversity, suggesting that the choice of a cannabis source should be based on its function rather than on its chemoprofile (https://www.neswell.net). Inflammatory cytokine levels in inflamed peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PB_MC) showed a 10-fold difference across hemp extract products containing unidentified terpenes in suppressing the inflammatory cytokine, TNFa (Torres et al. 2022). The influence of CBD concentration on inflammatory cytokine production was previously reported by Vuolo et al. (2015) and Jiang et al. (2022).
Materials & Methods
Chemicals and Products Tested
THC-free, 99% pure CBD and CBG isolates were purchased from Open Book extracts in North Carolina (openbookextracts.com). All other chemicals including erythromycin (EM), and growth media were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis MO). Specific reagents in the qPCR kits were assembled in-house at MatMaCorp Inc. (Lincoln NE).
Monitoring Cell Viability: OD600nm and plating
Individual frozen glycerin stocks of L. crispatus HM103 from BEI Resources Repository served as inoculum to streak on a sterile MRS agar plate and incubated anaerobically at 370C for 24-48 h until individual colony growth was observed. Single colonies were used to inoculate MRS broth and incubated for 24-48 h at 370C which served as the inoculum for exposure to test products. Exposed cultures and all control cultures were incubated at 370C for 48 h with OD600 readings taken at time zero, +24 h, and +48 h using disposable cuvettes in a standard spectrophotometer. The products were also plated onto MRS agar plates to evaluate inherent contaminants that could affect turbidity values.
Molecular Analysis by qPCR
DNA isolation from bacterial cultures was done using the MatMaCorp (Lincoln, NE) StickE Tissue DNA Isolation kit modified for bacteria as per manufacturer instructions. Briefly, a lysis buffer is applied to the sample followed by a heating step, and a binding buffer is added, thus allowing DNA from the solution to bind to the matrix of the StickE column. The column was washed prior to eluting the purified DNA. Per manufacturer instructions, 10 µL of isolated DNA was used as a template for genetic analysis in a Lacto-TM assay (MatMaCorp). The assay is a customized TaqMan-based detection assay that is conducted using a four-channel fluorescence detection platform, the Solas 8 (MatMaCorp). The assay was designed to detect the unique 16S-rRNA DNA sequence for L. crispatus. Briefly, the assay is a probe-based method that begins with hybridizing the custom-designed probes with their desired nucleic acid target found in the sample. Once hybridized, detection takes place from the fluorescently labeled primer. The target has been assigned a channelon the Solas 8 and is detected independently.
Calling the Results
The calling algorithm uses first-order kinetics reaction properties (inflection point detection) in combinationwith a measure of the closeness of the signals associated with a specific target. Various indicators are tracked during the reactions to perform an on-the-fly analysis. The analysis is then consolidated by a measure of the similarity between the fluorescence signals at the end of the run. Aggregating values from the similarity measure, the end gain and the inflection point detection allow the Solas 8 software to make the call at the end of the run without having to compare a results library of known sample targets.
Figure 1: qPCR Findings
Results
Exposure of L. crispatus
Anaerobically grown cultures of L. crispatus were exposed to either CBD isolate or CBG isolate at each of two concentrations [5 mg/mL] and [10 mg/mL] with all appropriate controls. All treatment groups were evaluated by qPCR, turbidity at OD600, and plate counts.
Molecular Analysis via qPCR
These data show the specificity of the Solas8 testing for evaluating these products, as a molecular-level screening is not influenced by test product solubility, opacity, or non-specific contamination present in some of the tested products that can interfere with optical density measurements.
Growth Monitoring
Figure 2: Turbidity
Turbidity monitoring, albeit non-specific, confirmed the species-specific qPCR findings, that is no inhibition for the two cannabinoid isolates evaluated (Fig. 2).
Conclusions
In this limited in vitro study using a sentinel lactobacilli response, we have shown that 99% pure CBD and CBG isolates were not inhibitory at the two doses evaluated by complementary observations following turbidity, plating, and by qPCR. Limitations in this study prevent definitive conclusions regarding what individual or combination of cannabinoids or other cannabis secondary metabolites are inhibitory in vivo to dominant lactobacilli species in the reproductive tract. These limitations include commercial product testing without knowledge of excipients or impact on the bioavailability of any active cannabinoid ingredients. In addition, dose-response curves were not generated and exposure under micro-aerobic conditions was not carried out.
Cannabidiol’s potential as an antimicrobial agent may be limited by its extremely low solubility in water and a propensity to stick to spurious proteins limiting systemic distribution in the body as a therapeutic. Interpreting microbiome study findings to human health outcomes will require multi-disciplinary corresponding clinical data findings of disease diagnosis, processes, and treatment within populations. Nonetheless, this nascent translational research opportunity is vast with the promise of benefiting patient outcomes (Wensel et al. 2022).
Health Canada released a scientific review report on products containing cannabis, specifically containing 98% or greater CBD and less than 1% of THC (Health Canada 2022) while the FDA just concluded that there are no existing guidelines applicable for recommending safety and quality guidelines to manage risk for CBD products (U.S. FDA 2023). The Health Canada committee unanimously agreed that short-term use of CBD is safe at 20 mg per day up to a maximum dose of 200 mg per day and that packaging should include both dosing instructions and potential side effects. The Committee did not address the antimicrobial potential of CBD or CBG formulations or specifically vulvar or vaginally administered cannabinoids. There is clearly more basic physiological research needed on the impact of self-administration of CBD preparations based on the route of exposure.
Hopkins AL (2008) Network pharmacology: the next paradigm in drug discovery. Nat Chem Biol 4(11):682-90.
Iseppi R, Brighenti V, Licata M, Lambertini A, Sabia C, Messi P, Pellati F, Benvenuti S (2019) Chemical characterization and evaluation of the antibacterial activity of essential oils from fibre-type Cannabis sativa L. (Hemp) Molecules 24:2302; doi:10.3390/molecules24122302.
Jiang Z, Jin S, Fan X, Cao K, Liu Y, Want X, Ma Y, Xiang L (2022) Cannabidiol inhibits inflammation induced by Cutibacterium acnes-derived extracellular vesicles via activation of CB2 receptor in keratinocytes. J Inflammation Res 15:4573-4583.
Torres AR, Caldwell VD, Morris S, Lyon R (2022) Human cells can be used to study cannabinoid dosage and inflammatory cytokine responses. Cannabis Sci & Tech 5(2) 38-45).
U.S. FDA (2023) https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-concludes-existing-regulatory-frameworks-foods-and-supplements-are-not-appropriate-cannabidiol
Vuolo F, Petronilho F, Sonai B, Ritter C, Hallak JE, Zuardi AW, Crippa JA, Dal-Pizzol F (2015) Mediators Inflamm 538670
Wensel CR, Salzberg SL, Sears CL (2022) Next-generation sequencing insights to advance clinical investigations of the microbiome. J Clin Invest 132(7):e154944. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI154944.
There are a lot of risks throughout the entire supply chain in the cannabis and hemp markets. Legal and regulatory issues, quality control reliability, security problems, product safety, potency, and constantly changing supply and demand are just a few major risks cannabis operators must stay on top of. A lot of companies mitigate these risks by implementing programs to find the source and figure out what actions could alleviate it. Those actions can look like reviewing testing or certification reports, auditing supplier facilities, and much more.
Jennifer Lott, AMAS Service Delivery Director for the standards certification body, BSI, has over 25 years of experience in quality, safety, lab management, consulting, packaging, and systems development. She’s an expert in GMP, ISO 22716, 21 CFR 117, 21 CFR 111, 21 CFR 210-111, ICH Q7, WHO GDP, RSPO, food safety, GMP/HACCP and much more.
She is a panelist for an upcoming webinar, Supply Chain Risks in Hemp and Cannabis June 27, 2023. During that webinar, she’ll join other experts where they’ll discuss some of the supply chain risks cannabis companies face and what they can do to mitigate those risks.
Ahead of her webinar, where she’ll take a deep dive into supply chain risks, we sat down with Lott to get a preview for what she’ll talk about.
Q: What are the major supply chain issues faced by the cannabis and hemp markets currently?
Jennifer Lott: The U.S. market remains highly complicated for cannabis companies and investors. Fewer than half of U.S. states and territories have legalized recreational cannabis use as of Nov. 2022.
To this day, cannabis is still a Schedule one substance under the Controlled Substances Act, alongside drugs like heroin, LSD and ecstasy – an issue that has led to several regulatory and fiduciary challenges for growers, processors, and distributors of cannabis/hemp.
Legal concerns aside, cannabis companies operate much like other businesses and face almost the same exposures that most enterprises do. Here are the top risks cannabis businesses encounter, according to experts.
Distribution – Current regulations prevent products from one state to be transported to another state.
Natural disasters – including wildfires, storms, and flooding, can easily damage crops
Cybersecurity – Because of the type of information that cannabis companies handle, they can also become a prime target for hackers.
Despite the supply chain challenges mentioned above, the cannabis industry is growing, and its use is becoming more accepted in society, but still faces major challenges. These trends also will create a volatile and fast-changing environment cannabis companies in 2023. The big challenge will be deciding which of the scores of startups, IPOs and established cannabis companies can surmount the upheaval and succeed long term.
Q: How are companies mitigating risks and what tools are at its disposal?
Lott: Anyone involved in the cannabis/hemp business knows they need to manage their risk with a solid risk management plan.
The three biggest risks facing cannabis/hemp businesses aside from the supply chain issues mentioned above, include:
Employee theft – employees have easy access to the product, run cash registers at dispensaries, and generally know a lot about the inner workings of the company. Protecting against insider theft is critical for the business.
Product tampering – this can happen at any stage in the supply chain. Businesses whose products cause harm could be liable for injury and damages.
Compliance regulations – compliance varies from state to state and laws are frequently changing.
Thanks to regulatory uncertainty and limited access to tools other industries have access to, the cannabis industry likely will have an increased risk profile for the foreseeable future. This heightens the need for a structured, risk management approach. However, even with so many external factors out of its control, cannabis companies still can dramatically decrease risks by addressing internal strategies and processes.
Cannabis companies with effective, relevant, and well-documented risk management practices can better positioned to create and preserve capital, attract investment, and achieve long-term sustainable growth.
Jennifer Lott is speaking at the Supply Chain Risks in Hemp and Cannabis Webinar, taking place June 27 at 11:00 am EST. Click here to register.
About Jennifer Lott
Jennifer Lott is the AMAS Service Delivery Director for the internationally recognized standards certification body, BSI. Jennifer currently supports the quality and integrity of food and fast-moving consumer products. She is an accredited Lead Auditor and Trainer with over 25 years of experience in quality and safety, management system development, consulting, packaging, and laboratory management. Jennifer’s expertise includes GMP, ISO 22716, 21 CFR 117, 21 CFR 111, 21 CFR 210-111, ICH Q7, BRC GS Consumer Products, WHO GDP, EudraLex, BRC GS Storage & Distribution, BRC GS Packaging, BRC GS Agents & Brokers, RSPO, Food Safety, and GMP/HACCP.
The cannabis industry in the United States is booming. In just a few years, it has gone from a small, underground market to a multi-billion-dollar industry. This growth is due in part to the legalization of cannabis in many states, as well as the growing public acceptance of its use for both medical and recreational purposes.
The industry is still in its early stages, but it has the potential to be a major economic driver for the United States. However, the industry’s success has brought with it challenges, such as THC inflation. This is when growers inflate the THC levels of their products in order to sell them for a higher price. This practice has led to widespread lab shopping, as growers send their products to labs that promise to give them the highest THC readings.
THC Inflation and Lab Shopping: A Look Under the Hood
Among cannabis enthusiasts, a prevailing belief circulates, asserting that cannabis products with elevated THC levels inherently possess greater potency and induce more pronounced effects. Nevertheless, this belief rests upon a fallacy, for it erroneously assumes that THC levels alone dictate the overall potency of a cannabis product. Genuinely comprehending the potency and effects of cannabis products requires the consideration of an array of factors. These factors include the presence of other cannabinoids and terpenes, the method by which the substance is consumed, as well as an individual’s metabolic and tolerance peculiarities. For instance, a particular strain of cannabis with low THC content, but elevated levels of other cannabinoids and terpenes, may engender a more intense impact in contrast to a variety exhibiting higher THC levels but diminished quantities of other compounds.
This misguided notion that heightened THC levels correspond to augmented potency has contributed to a surge in the demand for high-THC products. Consequently, producers have resorted to offering incentives to labs that provide inflated THC numbers for their products. Thus, certain labs have engaged in a practice coined as “lab shopping,” whereby they furnish reports that align with the producers’ desired THC levels, rather than accurately reflecting the genuine levels present within the product.
The manipulation of THC levels and the deceitful practice of lab shopping inflict profound damage upon the cannabis industry, eroding the foundation of trust. The fact that growers selectively collaborate solely with labs that yield desired outcomes, generates a mirage of superiority surrounding their products, thus deceiving consumers. Consequently, unsuspecting customers find themselves in possession of goods that fall far short of the promised standards of potency or quality. Moreover, this predicament places labs that remain steadfast in their commitment to integrity and the provision of accurate test results at an unfair disadvantage.
Fighting Back to Eradicate THC Inflation and Lab Shopping in the Cannabis Industry
The relentless surge of THC inflation finds its origins in the glaring absence of standardized testing protocols within the cannabis industry. As each lab embraces diverse methodologies and tools, testing produces disparate outcomes. This dissonance becomes a fertile ground for unscrupulous labs, who seize the opportunity presented by this lack of uniformity to peddle false THC numbers. To compound matters, the scope for manual interference looms large. The solution to this problem is to create a set of standards that everyone in the cannabis industry must follow. It’s important for the industry to come together and establish a common set of rules for testing. This will ensure that all labs consistently follow the same procedures and produce accurate results. In addition, it is important to have different labs take part in proficiency testing to find outlier labs. States should also take quick action to punish labs that provide incorrect or exaggerated THC values in their reports.
A representation of various ways to arrest the budding trend of THC inflation and lab shopping (Figure courtesy CloudLIMS)
It is extremely important to prioritize transparency among labs in order to address the growing concerns regarding the inflation of THC potency. State regulatory bodies can achieve this by conducting frequent audits to detect and correct any inconsistencies or inaccuracies in the data. To make this possible, state agencies need to hire skilled data scientists who can thoroughly analyze the data produced by labs. If the industry collectively works towards addressing these issues, it will enhance consumer trust in the regulated market. By eliminating the incentives that drive THC potency inflation, a more trustworthy cannabis industry can take shape and flourish.
Next, it is crucial to educate customers about the false notion that higher THC levels always result in stronger effects. Through effective communication and raising awareness, the industry can address the issue of THC potency and discourage the practice of selectively choosing labs with desired results.
The Importance of Deploying a Cannabis Lab Testing Software
Having a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) is essential to meet the challenging ISO/IEC 17025 requirements. This system plays a critical role in providing an extra level of assurance and trust in the accuracy of lab results. By automating processes, integrating analytical instruments, and adhering to rigorous quality standards, a cannabis lab testing software minimizes the possibility of manual manipulation of test results.
Furthermore, a cannabis lab testing software maintains a sample chain-of-custody (CoC) through the sample life cycle and tracks samples using barcodes. Furthermore, it generates custom reports that include scannable QR codes, which can be instantly shared with customers. By configuring the QR code, it becomes possible to include a link to the original Certificate of Analysis (CoA) produced by a lab. This allows buyers to verify the reported composition on the product label by referring to the authentic test results on the CoA. This approach promotes transparency, trust, and accountability within the cannabis industry.
Cannabis lab testing software to manage and track samples through their lifecycle and maintain a CoC (Figure courtesy CloudLIMS)
A cannabis lab testing software carefully monitors and records all activities, such as staff logins, document modifications, sample records, and test results, with a date and time stamp along with the name of the person who performed those activities. This thorough record-keeping process eliminates any chance of manual tampering with lab data, thereby enhancing the reliability and defensibility of test results. Moreover, the system effectively manages the outcomes of various Quality Control (QC) samples to guarantee accurate test results. By comparing the test results of QC samples with the samples being tested, the system can identify any analytical errors and enable lab managers to fix them, enabling labs to uphold quality standards.
The cannabis industry has experienced swift expansion as a result of cannabis legalization in multiple states across the United States. This has brought about various advantages, such as increased demand for cannabis products and the creation of new employment opportunities and tax revenue. However, the industry has faced challenges such as the issues of THC inflation and lab shopping. Dishonest producers and labs take advantage of the lack of standardized industry practices to deceive regulators and consumers. To address this issue, it is crucial to establish industry-wide testing standards that ensure consistency and accuracy across all labs. State agencies must also take prompt action to penalize labs that provide false THC values. Additionally, educating consumers about the misconceptions surrounding high THC levels and potency is important to combat this detrimental trend in the industry. Implementing cannabis lab testing software can help reduce the potential for human error and guarantee the authenticity and reliability of lab data.
This nascent but fast-growing industry holds remarkable promise for medicine and the economy, which can only be realized if proper safeguards are put in place and malpractices are stopped in their tracks.
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