The study’s findings show a lack of regulation in the burgeoning domestic cannabis industry, which has tricked many buyers into finding high levels of THC, the psychoactive compound responsible for cannabis’ euphoria. It suggests that you may be convinced that the The researchers say it is the first peer-reviewed study to empirically examine the potency of commercial cannabis.
“You can’t believe what it says on the label,” says Mitt McGrolin, one of the study’s authors and a professor of biological sciences at the University of Northern Colorado. “Consumers don’t have enough information about whether what’s being produced can be trusted.”
To conduct research, Researchers purchased 23 different samples of cannabis flowers from 10 dispensaries in Denver, Fort Collins, and Garden City, Colorado. They tested each sample to determine the concentration of THC, which stands for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.
In 18 of the 23 samples with names such as Sour Amnesia, Danky Kong, and Colombian Gold ’72, researchers found potency levels lower than those listed on the label. Depending on the bag tested, some products contained 40-50% less THC than the label promised. The amount of THC detected in the lab, on average, was 23% less than the amount listed on the bag of cannabis.
Five samples contained levels of THC in or near the label-listed range.
“These results reveal that consumers often purchase cannabis with much lower THC potencies than advertised,” the study’s authors concluded.
how cannabis is regulated
Recreational cannabis is legal 21 states and DC, generating billions of dollars in annual sales. But researchers say there isn’t enough scrutiny of the amount of THC you may be ingesting when purchasing marijuana for purposes such as smoking, vaping or eating it. One reason for the lack of oversight is that cannabis remains illegal under federal law. This means that standards for retail and medical use vary from state to state.
“There is a jumble of rules and regulations within each state,” says McGlaughlin. “It’s really hard having to do it state by state.”
Just as breweries list the percentage of alcohol in a bottle of beer, marijuana distributors often label cannabis bags with THC content. The company that grows cannabis typically sends samples to third-party laboratories to measure the amount of his THC in the plant, according to the researchers. In many cases, the higher the concentration of THC, the higher the price.
Anna Schwabe, lead author of the study, which she conducted as a PhD student at the University of Northern Colorado, said this pricing dynamic encouraged companies to grow, market, and sell cannabis with higher levels of THC. said.
“I’m kind of confused right now,” said Schwabe, R&D director at a cannabis farm in New Jersey. “And really, at the very end of this stick is the consumer.”
Amount of THC in Recreational Marijuana
For example, people who regularly use marijuana to treat pain or insomnia might try to measure the amount of THC they’re ingesting, says Schwabe, who is also a lecturer at the University of Colorado Boulder. Schwabe said it’s hard for consumers to tell exactly when the label doesn’t match what they purchased.
“They didn’t get what they paid for,” says Schwabe. “This is not just a Colorado problem. This is a national problem.”
February, patients with medical marijuana licenses in Arkansas sued cannabis testing labs Cannabis farms allegedly inflated allegations The amount of THC in the marijuana purchased by the person.and two submitted similar litigation sued the company in California in October for falsely advertising pre-wound joints.
Jody Gilman, director of neuroscience at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Addiction Center, says consumers can’t always trust what these products say on their labels. In a recent clinical trial, Gilman said people who thought they were taking CBD, another compound found in cannabis, were actually unknowingly taking cannabis products containing THC. rice field.
“It was a really scary experience for them,” said Gilman, who was not involved with the Colorado study. “You can’t always trust what’s on the label.”
Schwabe said he first noticed the discrepancy between reported and actual THC when he was working on something else. study About the smell of various weeds. She collected additional samples for new research.
Schwabe and McGlaughlin sent cannabis samples to a private lab. Lab researchers dissolved the cannabis buds in a solution and ran the resulting liquid through a chromatographic device to separate all the components of the plant according to their molecular weights, McGlaughlin said. By doing so, they were able to determine the concentration of THC.
Different parts of the cannabis plant contain varying amounts of THC. Researchers say that in many cases, the concentration of THC decreases as it moves from the upper limbs of the plant to the lower limbs. Schwabe said advances in cannabis cultivation and growth in recent decades have increased the amount of THC in weeds overall. But she said she doesn’t think the increase is “as exaggerated as we’re led to believe.”
According to researchers, the THC found in cannabis buds can degrade over time, especially if the weed is not stored properly. According to the researchers, “significant amounts were not observed in the samples used in this study. This is because the low potency of the observed and reported values was not due to age or poor physical condition.” storage conditions.”
