Abstract
The majority of adults in the U.S. now have state-legal access to medical or recreational cannabis products, despite their federal prohibition. Given the wide array of pharmacologically active compounds in these products, it is essential that their biochemical profile is measured and reported to consumers, which requires accurate laboratory testing. However, no universal standards for laboratory testing protocols currently exist, and there is controversy as to whether all reported results are legitimate. To investigate these concerns, we analyzed a publicly available seed-to-sale traceability dataset from Washington state containing measurements of the cannabinoid content of legal cannabis products from state-certified laboratories. Consistent with previous work, we found that commercial Cannabis strains fall into three broad chemotypes defined by the THC:CBD ratio. Moreover, we documented systematic differences in the cannabinoid content reported by different laboratories, relative stability in cannabinoid levels of commercial flower and concentrates over time, and differences between popular commercial strains. Importantly, interlab differences in cannabinoid reporting persisted even after controlling for plausible confounds. Our results underscore the need for standardized laboratory methodologies in the legal cannabis industry and provide a framework for quantitatively assessing laboratory quality.
Highlights
The majority of adults in the U.S have state-legal access to medical or recreational cannabis products, despite their federal prohibition
Our results confirm that commercial cannabis strains in Washington fall into three principal chemotypes defined by their THC:CBD ratio, similar to landrace[13] and commercial Dutch strains[14]
These included formal analysis of discrepancies in the cannabinoid levels reported by different laboratories, trends in THC content over time, and systematic differences in the THC:CBD profiles between flower samples with different labeled strain names
Summary
The majority of adults in the U.S have state-legal access to medical or recreational cannabis products, despite their federal prohibition. Public opinion on legal cannabis has changed dramatically in recent years[4] and a majority of U.S states allow legal access to medical cannabis for approved patients, with several states allowing recreational adult-use[5,6] This dynamic legal landscape has given rise to a rapidly growing legal cannabis industry that offers a wide variety of products to consumers. Standardized procedures have yet to be adopted, and controversy exists about whether all laboratories are accurately measuring and reporting cannabinoid content[10] Most of these labs were not established quality control labs with a track record of testing food or pharmaceutical products, but rather started to focus on cannabis products. Reliable testing data will shed light on questions important to consumers and regulators, such as whether cannabinoid levels are changing over time or differ systematically between commercial products
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