APRIL, 2023

Issue n. 55

Hop Latent Viroid is

Uncovering the Oklahoma Voters a Major Threat to
Mechanisms Reject Cannabis the Cannabis
of Action of Legalization at the Industry, Review
Psychedelic Drugs Ballot Box Claims
 Analytical Cannabis Digest

CONTENTS

04 Uncovering the Mechanisms of Action

of Psychedelic Drugs 11 Hop Latent Viroid is a Major Threat to
the Cannabis Industry, Review Claims

08 Raphael Mechoulam, “Father of

Cannabis Science”, Dies at Age 92 13 What is Lab Shopping? And How Can
The Cannabis Industry Tackle It?

10 Oklahoma Voters Reject Cannabis

Legalization at the Ballot Box 17 Tackling Cannabis Facility Design with
Urban-Gro

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 April 2023

EDITOR’S NOTE CONTRIBUTORS

We write a lot about cannabis at Analytical Cannabis. The clue’s

in the name. But, over the past few years, we’ve given a lot more
attention to the burgeoning field of psychedelics research.
Jack Rudd
Many of these psychedelic studies attempt to illuminate exactly
how the drugs manipulate the brain and induce their effects.
But there are many drugs under investigation – from MDMA
to ketamine to psilocybin – and they all affect the brain in
unique ways. Understandably, precious few papers touch on all of
these drugs.
Leo McGuinness
But they don’t have to, because we’ve got an article summarizing
precisely how MDMA, ketamine, and psilocybin interact with
the human brain.

Read the full original feature on page 4 of this, the 55th Analytical
Cannabis digest. And read on to learn the latest developments in
the world of cannabis testing and science.
Lucy Lawrence

In an unwelcome article, we remember the life of Professor

Raphael Mechoulam, the father of cannabis research, who passed
away in March at the age of 92.

From the world of cannabis policy, we report on Oklahoma’s

“cannabis referendum” and its somewhat disappointing result.
Mariana Gil

And, as part of our ongoing reporting on the lab shopping issue

plaguing the cannabis testing sector, we collate and detail the
many possible solutions to the problem that testers have echoed
over the years.

So, whatever your interest in cannabis and psychedelic science,

Tiffany Quinn
we’ve got it covered. We hope you enjoying exploring this
edition of the Analytical Cannabis digest.

Click here to browse our previous issues.

Have an idea for a story?

If you would like to contribute to

Analytical Cannabis digest, please feel
free to email our friendly editorial team.

analyticalcannabis.com | 03
 Psych Corner: The Science Behind Psychedelics

Uncovering the Mechanisms of Action

of Psychedelic Drugs
By Mariana Gil

W
e know that psychedelic drugs modify Ketamine, for instance, is already being used
the brain’s activity, leading to changes in in patients with treatment-resistant depression;
mood, sensory perception, thought, and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy has proved to be an
sense of self. How exactly they do that, however, is effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disor-
a question that still amazes scientists. One of them, der (PTSD), while psilocybin can be used to reduce
Dr. Boris Heifets, assistant professor at Stanford the symptoms of depression.
School of Medicine, presented his recent research in
a webinar hosted by Analytical Cannabis. But how exactly do these drugs affect the brain?

According to him, psychedelics drugs can be clas-

sified into three main groups: serotonergic classic Basic neuropharmacology of psilocybin,
hallucinogens (LSD and psilocybin, for example), ketamine and MDMA
dissociative anesthetics (ketamine and nitrous
oxide), and entactogens (MDMA and mephedrone). Classic hallucinogens, such as psilocybin, are ago-
nists of the serotonin receptors and thus exert
“Although psilocybin, ketamine and MDMA are dif- their pharmacological effects primarily through
ferent types of drugs, they all do share an import- the serotonin system. MDMA is an agonist of sero-
ant property: a rapid acting therapeutic effect for tonin receptors as well, however, it also inhibits
neuropsychiatric disorders,” Heifets said. serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine reuptake

04 | Analytical Cannabis Digest

 April 2023

transporters (SERT, DAT, and NET, respectively), therapy works but also improve the accuracy of
leading to an increase in the extracellular levels of preclinical models.
these neurotransmitters.

Ketamine, on the other hand, is an antagonist of Modeling pro-social effects of MDMA

the NMDA glutamate receptor. The three drugs are
thought to increase the release of glutamate using MDMA is a synthetic amphetamine derivative that
different pathways. High levels of glutamate, in turn, has unique pro-social effects.
increase the release of the brain-derived neuro-
trophic factor (BDNF), promoting neuroplasticity, “In addition to producing feelings of euphoria –
synaptogenesis, as well as spine and neurite growth. which is common in other stimulants – it’s fairly
unique in that it seems to enhance trust, emotional
Understanding the neuropharmacology of these openness, empathy and the bond between therapist
compounds in important; as Heifets points out, and patient,” Heifets said of MDMA.
“pharmacology alone is not enough to understand
how these drugs work”. Indeed, the human brain is
an incredibly complex system, and we still face major
gaps in our knowledge regarding the mechanism of
action of these substances. Although psilocybin,
ketamine and MDMA
Modelling psychedelics effects in mice are dif­ferent types of
The profound subjective experiences induced by drugs, they all do share
psychedelics seem uniquely human and raise doubts an import­ant property: a
about the validity of animal models in psychedelic
research. However, evidence shows that some neu- rapid acting therapeutic
ropsychological effects elicited by psychedelics can effect for neuropsychiatric
be extrapolated from rodents to humans. Thus,
although rodent behavioral models have several lim- disorders.
itations, they can be used to make clear predictions
that can be later tested in clinical experiments. This
is exactly the approach Heifets and collaborators
have been implementing. However, MDMA widespread adoption in psycho-
therapy can be limited by its potential for abuse and
“We have tremendous genetic access to mice and incompatibility with selective serotonin reuptake
a lot of tools for manipulating activity of brain cir- inhibitors. A deeper understanding of the pharma-
cuits”, he explained. “Our approach starts with mod- cology and neural dynamics underlying MDMA can
elling drug effects with mouse behavior and then help to support its use as psychotherapeutic. And
using genetic tools to manipulate the activity of Heifets’ lab is working toward this end.
specific brain circuits. From there, we can identify
synaptic and circuit mechanisms that underlie these “Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow separate
drug effects. And finally, we can test that mechanism out the pro-social effects from the less desirable
in humans.” effects that might limit and MDMA broader use in
people with PTSD?” Heifets said.
This strategy works as a cycle – “when we have
mechanistic insight from human studies, we can go With this goal in mind, the team modeled MDMA’s
back and model those in mice,” Heifets explained. pro-social and nonsocial rewarding effects in mice.
The cycle starts again. Thus, this type of inte- They found that pro-social effects can be explained
grated approach can not only help to refine our by MDMA acting at the serotonin transporter
understanding on how clinical psychedelics-based within the nucleus accumbens, while MDMA’s acute

analyticalcannabis.com | 05
 Analytical Cannabis Digest

rewarding effects – most likely linked to its addictive Ketamine and the opioid system
potential – involve the dopaminergic system.
For some time, it was thought that ketamine’s fast
Although, these results are very interesting, Heifets antidepressant effect was mediated by inhibition
knows that they are not enough to fully understand of the glutamate NMDA receptor. However, other
MDMA effects in the brain. That is why his lab has antagonists of this receptor lack antidepressant
spent the last few years developing a new technique effects, suggesting that ketamine’s striking antide-
to map the neuronal activity in the whole brain. pressant action involves other pathways. Ketamine
also inhibits opioids receptors – albeit, with signifi-
“The beauty of this technique is that it is unbiased; cantly lower affinity – and a recent clinical study
it doesn’t assume any specific pharmacology or revealed that the opioid system is involved in its
particular brain region. The only thing that we’re antidepressant effect. Following this result, Heifet’s
assuming is that neuronal activity is somehow lab tried to model this effect in mice.
related to the mechanism of action of the drug,”
he explained. “If we can understand how the system works in
mice, that should give us some understanding of
Using this technique, the team mapped the neuronal how ketamine interacts with opioid receptors in
activity evoked by MDMA and identified three areas humans,” he explained. He and his team mapped
that are selectively active when the drug is admin- the neuronal activity evoked by ketamine and com-
istered in a social context: the nucleus accumbens, pared it with the map obtained when ketamine was
the dorsal endopiriform nucleus, and the olfactory administered together with naltrexone (an opioid
tubercle. Similarly, by mapping the brain activity receptor antagonist).
when MDMA is given in a non-social setting, it is
possible to identify which areas are involved in the “The difference between those two states (ket-
psychostimulant effects of the drug. amine versus ketamine + naltrexone) should reveal
a circuit linked to ketamine interaction with the
This method resembles human neuroimaging stud- opioid system,” Heifets remarked. The compar-
ies. Yet animal models allow for further investi- ison of the two maps showed that the central
gation on the causality of these results. As Heifers amygdala – an area involved in fear and emotional
pinpointed, “in mice we have the tools to perturb the processing – is involved in the ketamine-opioid
system and test the direct involvement of the drug on interaction. Further, when Heifets’ team blocked
the resulting activity map.” opioid receptors specifically in that brain area, ket-
amine behavioral effects were abolished.
One of these tools is a genetic technique that allows
for the capture and control (turning on/off ) of the set “This result leads us to believe that the central amyg-
of neurons that are active during a particular state. To dala mediates the ketamine-opioid system interac-
test if these areas mediate MDMA’s pro-social effect, tion and is now something that we want to pursue in
the team first captured the ensemble of cells that are human trials,” Heifers concluded.
activated by MDMA in a social context. Next, they
turned off these cells in the areas of interest (nucleus
accumbens, dorsal endopiriform nucleus or olfac- Setting-dependent effects of psilocybin
tory tubercle) and tested if MDMA still elicited a
pro-social effect. Interestingly, “MDMA pro-social One interesting feature of psychedelics in general –
effects disappear when we turned off the nucleus and psilocybin in particular – is that the setting in
accumbens or the dorsal endopiriform nucleus,” which the drug is taken can inf luence its short- and
Heifets enthusiastically stated. long-term effects. Heifet’s team is also using mice
to dissect the setting-dependent effects of psilo-
The next big step would be to test if stimulation of cybin. For this experiment, mice were kept in two
these particular areas induced pro-social effects different settings, either their typical home cage
in patients. or an enriched environment that included toys and

06 | Analytical Cannabis Digest

 April 2023

exercise equipment. Mice in both settings were then “This is a proof of principle demonstration that
injected with either psilocybin or saline. Finally, we could potentially link setting-dependent brain
their brains were imaged and the neuronal activity physiology to behavioral outcomes, and that’s
maps under the two conditions were compared. something we wish to model in in mice in the future,”
Heifers concluded.
The study is still in progress, but preliminary results
showed that psilocybin elicited both setting-inde-
pendent and setting-dependent effects; some brain Conclusion
areas were activated/suppressed independently of
the setting, while others were activated/suppressed No doubt we still need to learn a lot about the mul-
depending on whether the mice were in a home cage tiple effects psychedelic drugs exert in our brains
or in an enriched environment. and how they can be used to treat mental health
syndromes. Despite their limitations, animal mod-
“We’ve done something you cannot do with human els offer a broad range of advantages that can be lev-
imaging,” Heifets said. “We’ve counted the number eraged to dissect the mechanism of action of these
of active cells in these hotspots.” compounds and generate new hypothesis to test in
humans. An integrative approach that links pharma-
Overall, psilocybin setting-independent effects cology, large scale neural dynamics and behavior in
include an increase of active cells in the cortex and both preclinical and clinical studies is essential to tie
central nucleus of the amygdala as well as a decrease up loose ends.
of active cells in the hypothalamus. On the other
hand, psilocybin setting-dependent effects include
an increase of active cells in the somatosensory area
as well as a decrease of active cells in the piriform
area and zona incerta.

analyticalcannabis.com | 07
 Analytical Cannabis Digest

Raphael Mechoulam,“Father of
Cannabis Science”, Dies at Age 92
By Leo Bear-McGuinness

Image credit: Medicinal Genomics.

T
he renowned cannabis scientist Raphael “Thank you Raphi for all the great things you did and
Mechoulam has died at the age of 92. discover in your life and thanks for all the help and
support you gave me. Rest in peace my dear friend.”
The news comes from friends and colleagues
who have shared their condolences and tributes. Among his many achievements, Dr. Mechoulam is
credited as the first person to synthesize THC.
David (Dedi) Meiri, an associate professor at
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and a Mechoulam was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1930 to a
colleague of Mechoulam’s said the following in an Sephardic Jewish family. His family later relocated
online statement on March 10: to Israel, where Mechoulam studied chemistry.

“This is a very sad day for me, for the science com- In the early 1960s, while working as a chemist at
munity and for the cannabis community. Professor the Weizmann Institute, Mechoulam acquired some
Raphael Mechoulam or as we called him Raphi, cannabis material from the Israeli police with the
was one of the greatest scientist [sic] I ever met and intention of isolating and identifying the psychoac-
was my teacher and mentor in many aspects. I truly tive component of the plant, which had never been
believe he was deserve [sic] a Nobel prize!” done at the time.

08 | Analytical Cannabis Digest

 April 2023

“Morphine had been isolated from opium in the At the cannabis conference CannMed in California
nineteenth century, early nineteenth century,” in 2019, the then-88-year-old announced another
Mechoulam told CNN in an interview in 2014. cannabis creation: synthetically stable cannabidi-
“Cocaine had been isolated from coca leaves [in olic acid (CBDA), fit for clinical use.
the] mid-nineteenth century. And here we were,
mid-twentieth century, and yet the chemistry of “We have taken the unstable acid molecules
cannabis was not known. So it looked like [an] inter- of the cannabis plant and synthesized them to
esting project.” provide a stable, consistent basis for research-
ing new therapies across a wide range of med-
He succeeded and made the discovery of tetrahydro- ical needs,” Mechoulam explained during his
cannabinol (THC). He and his colleagues then went conference presentation.
on to isolate, elucidate, and synthesize several more
cannabinoids (as the chemicals became known), During his speech, he urged the scientific commu-
including cannabidiol (CBD), cannabigerol (CBG), nity to support more medical cannabis research
and cannabichromene (CBC). and lamented the research time already lost and
the patients that had missed out on cannabis-based
These discoveries laid the foundation of canna- treatments for conditions such as epilepsy.
bis chemical research and helped prompt future
discoveries, such as the elucidation of the body’s “Did we have to wait 30 years? No,” he said in 2019.
own cannabinoid receptors in the 1980s and ‘90s. “We could have helped thousands of children, and
we didn’t.”
With these endocannabinoid receptors identified,
the race was on to find the chemicals that normally Mechoulam was a professor of medicinal chemis-
interacted with them, the human body’s own endog- try at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.
enous cannabinoids. And once again Mechoulam He received the Israel Prize in Exact Sciences –
proved to be the pioneer. In 1992, he led research Chemistry in 2000, a NIDA Discovery Award in
that provided the evidence that a chemical called 2011, and the Harvey Prize (an annual Israeli award
arachidonoyl ethanolamine, which he and his col- for breakthroughs in science and technology) in
leagues named anandamide, was produced by the 2019.
body and could activate the CB1 receptor.

And Mechoulam kept researching and innovating

into his later years.

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 Analytical Cannabis Digest

Oklahoma Voters Reject Cannabis

Legalization at the Ballot Box
By Leo Bear-McGuinness

V
oters in the state of Oklahoma have decisively “We’re pleased the voters have spoken,” Pat
rejected the option of a legalized recreational McFerron, a Republican political strategist who ran
cannabis market. the opposition campaign, told the Associated Press.

The state held its “cannabis election” on Tuesday, “We think this sends a clear signal that voters are not
March 7, which gave residents the chance to support happy with the recreational nature of our medicinal
or oppose legalizing adult-use cannabis for anyone system. We also think it shows voters recognize the
aged 21 or over. criminal aspects, as well as the need for addressing
mental health needs of the state.”
According to the election tracker Decision Desk HQ ,
voters in the state rejected the proposal by a margin The “cannabis election” was first proposed by state
of 61.7% to 38.3%. advocates who gathered enough signatures to get the
proposal on a ballot. The Oklahomans for Sensible
Since 2018, Oklahoma has had one of the loosest Marijuana Laws group submitted more than 164,000
and largest medical cannabis sectors in the US. The signatures (95,000 are required to qualify for a bal-
state has nearly three times (2,877) as many licensed lot) to the Oklahoma Office of the Secretary of State
cannabis dispensaries as California (roughly 1,000), back in July 2022.
despite having a tenth of that state’s population.
Advocates had hoped the legalization question
Some of the “no” campaigners in the recent election would be posed during the US November mid-term
cited this extensive medical marijuana sector as a elections, but the ballot was delayed to March 2023,
reason to oppose any further cannabis legislation. reportedly to allow time for state courts to consider
legal challenges.

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 April 2023

Hop Latent Viroid is a Major Threat to

the Cannabis Industry, Review Claims
By Alexander Beadle

H
op latent viroid (HLVd) infection is a major What is HLVd?
concern for cannabis cultivators worldwide.
This is the warning espoused in a new re- Viroids are a class of plant-infecting pathogens and
view article from researchers at the Université de are the smallest known agents of infectious disease.
Sherbrooke, Quebec, and Hirosaki University, Japan. These single-stranded circles of RNA are typically
50-80 times smaller than the smallest viral genomes,
Published in the journal Viruses, the review details and unlike viruses, viroids do not have a protective
the discovery of HLVd in hops and subsequently protein coat.
in the cannabis plant, provides a brief overview of
the extent of these infections in the industry, and In the late 1980s, researchers from the Institute of
offers guidance on the prevention and management Agronomy and Food Technology, Spain, reported
of infections. the discovery of viroid-like RNA in two commercial
varieties of hops grown in the León region of Spain.
Additionally, the researchers also identify areas for Notably, this viroid-like RNA did not seem to induce
future research that will help to expand the knowl- any negative disease symptoms in the hops, and so it
edge base surrounding HLVd and cannabis, as well was named the “hop latent viroid” (HLVd).
as key priorities for development in order to tackle
the impacts of HLVd.

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 Analytical Cannabis Digest

Later, studies on hops grown in the United Kingdom Given the prevalence of HLVd in the cannabis
found that while HLVd-infected hop plants appear industry already, it is important that cultivators are
symptomless, this infection can actually signifi- informed on the proper steps to control and manage
cantly reduce the plants’ yield as well as the levels this viral infection.
of α-bitter acid or the essential oil content in the
hop cone. As the review authors outline, the first step of an
effective prevention protocol is to test all of the
As the new review summarizes, studies so far have cannabis plants and propagative materials com-
found very little to no evidence suggesting that HLVd ing into the facility, to ensure that they are viroid-
spread via pollen or seed, respectively. However, the free. Plants and materials should be quarantined for
viroid can be transmitted over long distances via around 30 days, they recommend, with testing done
the use of infected propagative materials, as well as in the third week of quarantine. Since viroid distri-
spreading mechanically by grafting and through the bution is likely to be uneven in the plant, the review
use of contaminated tools or machinery. authors also recommend that multiple leaf samples
from different stem heights be taken and tested.

What does HLVd mean for cannabis? While there is no treatment available for treating
HLVd infections, meristem tissue culture tech-
In 2019, the first research groups reported the niques can be used to save uninfected materials from
detection of HLVd in cannabis plants in the USA. HLVd-infected plants. However, while the meristem
HLVd in cannabis is also commonly referred to as technique does produce virus-free plants, these
“dudding” or “dudding disease”, with symptomatic plants are not viroid-resistant.
infected plants generally growing with less vigor.
As a result, having strict preventative measures in
Interestingly, the review article also notes that only place against viroid infection is key for cannabis
a few cannabis cultivars actually show symptoms plant cultivation facilities. As the review authors
associated with HLVd when infected, which implies detail, this means having a regular testing sys-
that the disease severity and symptoms could be gen- tem, sanitizing all equipment and tools with either
otype-dependent. Although, as the review authors diluted bleach or biocidal disinfectant, and swiftly
also point out, there is no current evidence of any destroying any infected material in order to halt the
HLVd-resistant cultivars. spread of detected infections.

In susceptible plants, HLVd can cause cannabis

plants to have smaller leaves, stunted growth, mal- What’s next for HLVd research?
formations, yellowed leaves, and a reduced f lower
mass and trichomes. The buds of infected plants Scientists have identified two distinct HLVd vari-
also tend to be smaller and looser, with less trichome ants in cannabis species to date, which differ by a
production. Crucially for the cannabis industry, single genetic mutation. The review authors say that
HLVd can cause a 50% reduction in cannabinoid and further studies looking at these variants are still
terpene production. needed “in order to understand whether or not both
of the HLVd sequence variants are able to infect and
induce disease symptoms in cannabis plants”.
Preventing the spread of viroid species
The authors also recommend that, for sustainability
In 2021, experts from a cannabis nursery in reasons, it is important to find more practical long-
California conducted more than 200,000 tissue tests term solutions to controlling HLVd infection. While
on cannabis from facilities across the state, finding appropriate chemical sterilization and meristem
that approximately 90% of facilities were testing tissue culture propagation can tackle cases of infec-
positive for HLVd. According to the review authors, tion, this can be laborious and expensive for cultiva-
around 30% of the plants in each facility showed tors. Longer-term solutions such as the possibility of
symptoms of infection. breeding HLVd-resistant plant cultivars, they argue,
should also be investigated.

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 April 2023

What is Lab Shopping? And How Can

The Cannabis Industry Tackle It?
By Leo Bear-McGuinness

L
ab shopping is the practice of offering (shop- If left unchecked and unpunished, lab shopping can
ping) a cannabis product to different testing labs spread throughout a legal cannabis market, leading
and then ultimately partnering with the lab that to fraudulent products on the dispensary shelves and
offers the most favorable test results. honest labs without any customers.

Often, the “most favorable test results” are the ones Several labs that recently shut their doors, including
with the higher THC potency numbers. If one lab CannaSafe Labs, one of the most prominent canna-
says a cannabis pre-roll contains 32% THC and bis testing labs in California, have explicitly blamed
another lab says it contains 40% THC, well, many lab shopping for their company’s demise.
pre-roll manufacturers would be inclined to partner
with the latter lab. “The issue of lab shopping and ownership decision
not to play in that arena ultimately led to the closure,”
Why? Because there’s a ravenous consumer appe- Ini Afia, former chief science officer at CannaSafe,
tite out there for high-THC products; the higher the told Analytical Cannabis in July 2022, shortly after
THC, the more a company can charge for its edible, the company announced its closure.
f lower, or concentrate.

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 Analytical Cannabis Digest

So, what can be done about lab shopping? What According to the state’s Department of Cannabis
checks and rules are needed to guarantee consumers Control, this compulsory cannabinoid test “will
aren’t getting swindled? ensure consumers receive accurate and consis-
tent information regarding the cannabinoid con-
Here at Analytical Cannabis, we’ve asked those ques- tent of the cannabis and cannabis product they use
tions to a host of experts over the past few years. or consume.”
Here are a few of their suggestions.
As you may have guessed, Wurzer isn’t confident the
policy will work.

“You’ve got the state of California that has a stan-

There’s no silver bullet; dardized method that they’re releasing and are going
it’s a long slog. to force the laboratories to use to try and rein in some
of the THC inf lation,” he told Analytical Cannabis
last July.

“But that’s bringing a whole host of problems.

Consumer education It’s not ready for primetime; all the labs have
come out against it, and it doesn’t really stop the
It may not be the most extreme or enforceable policy inf lation problem.”
to combat lab shopping, but whenever we’ve asked
lab experts in the cannabis industry for solutions to
the problem, again and again, consumer education Oregon’s second lab policy
is mentioned.
California isn’t the only state with a policy purpose-
The thinking goes: if consumer demand for THC fully made to combat lab shopping. Oregon’s can-
is ultimately driving lab shopping, then consumers nabis regulator recently announced its “second lab”
should be educated that there’s more to cannabis policy. Since the start of 2023, any cannabis com-
than just high THC levels. pany in the state has faced the possibility that its
product samples may be sent to a second lab of the
“I think the long-term solution is to highlight some regulator’s choosing, so the product’s contents can
of these other compounds in cannabis,” Josh Wurzer, be verified. This way, the state regulator will be able
co-founder of SC Labs, told Analytical Cannabis last to see if there are any discrepancies in the cannabi-
July. “And we’ve talked about this in the past, like, noid content of products.
terpenes really are the quantitative quality indica-
tors and really do demonstrate whether or not can- Commenting on the new rule back in November
nabis is going to taste good.” 2022, the then-commissioner of the Oregon Liquor
and Cannabis Commission, Matt Maletis, explained
“But there’s no silver bullet; it’s a long slog. I think it that the second lab rule was very much envi-
starts with educating the consumer on some of this sioned to combat the state’s lab shopping/inf lated
stuff, rather than passing a bunch of new regulations THC problem.
that require labs to test everything the same way.”
“There’s a lot of voices that don’t want THC to be
the sole factor and the skewed THC is something the
California’s cannabinoid test consumer fixates on and it’s not fair,” he said.

Speaking of “new regulations that require labs to test

everything the same way”, California’s cannabis reg- Transparent data
ulator has planned for one standardized cannabinoid
test to be mandatory for all labs in the state, in an Oregon’s approach to lab accountability may prove
effort to quell its lab shopping crisis. to be one of the more thorough in the US. But some
argue that that kind of accountability doesn’t have to

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 April 2023

come from the state regulator; it can come from the “It’s a completely meaningless number,” Luke Mason
labs themselves. If all the testing data were public added. How is THC potency – the most desired
and transparent, some industry insiders argue, there quality in cannabis – a “meaningless number” I hear
might be no need for a second lab, because all the you ask? Well, according to Mason (Luke, that is),
labs could police each other. the THC potency of a single cannabis crop can vary
from bud to bud. Therefore, if one sample of a crop
One person who’s made such an argument is Liz is tested and the results say it contains 20% THC, it’s
Mason, the former director of operations at Aurum hard to confidently say that every other bud taken
Labs, a Colorado cannabis testing facility that from the crop and sold will also be 20% THC.
recently shut its doors, partly due to the pressures of
lab shopping. “I’ll tell you a story from way [back] in the begin-
ning,” Mason said. “We partnered with a grow and
“Our solution to lab shopping is having all the labs we tagged all the buds on two plants of the same
have transparent data, meaning we pool our data and strain in the same rooms, all under the same con-
then we look at it statistically,” Mason recently told ditions. So we ended up with eight to ten individ-
Analytical Cannabis. ual f lower-potency tests per plant. And the range of
the top [bud] was 30% [THC] and then the lowest
“We all should have similar failure rates,” she added, potency, which probably wouldn’t make it to trim,
“we should all have similar spans of THC that we’re was 10%. So we had a plus or minus 10% [range]
reporting. We’ve always said the proof is in the throughout the entire plant, and then from plant to
data. And if you make people share and be transpar- plant saw the same variability.”
ent about their data, you’ll be able to tell you’ll see
an outlier.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that person is guilty,”

she said, “but it says, ‘Okay, that’s what we go inves-
Our solution to lab
tigate. Why are you an outlier?” shopping is having all
But pooling data isn’t Mason’s only proposal to
the labs have transparent
rid the industry of lab shopping, she and her busi- data.
ness partner Luke Mason also have a much more
radical suggestion.

No more cannabinoid tests “So, yeah, potency testing for f lower is totally irrele-
vant, at least the way we’re doing it right now.”
That’s right, one possible response to the cri-
sis of inf lated THC levels is to just… not test for
THC. If THC isn’t quantified in the first place, Higher taxes
then there’s no way its presence can be overstated
on product labels. That’s the thinking behind the While ditching cannabinoid tests altogether is a
proposal, anyway. compelling proposal, it’s one unlikely to be adopted
by many states.
“Our solution to that would be that we stop testing
f lower potency,” Liz Mason told Analytical Cannabis. Instead, regulators may be more comfortable with
“I think it’s great that we do it for edibles, so that financial penalties for cannabis companies and labs
people know, ‘I’m taking a 10-milligram gummy,’ caught inf lating THC numbers. That’s what Dave
but for f lower, we should just not have potency Cho, founder of Shasta Laboratory in California’s
on there, and people just go and buy it based on Bay Area, has advocated for.
look and smell and stop the potency completely.”

analyticalcannabis.com | 15
 Analytical Cannabis Digest

“[The] only option is money related,” Cho recently “We were only 3% lower than other labs, and the
told Analytical Cannabis. customer said, ‘No, I’d like to go with [the] other
lab who gave who gave [the] higher number,’” Cho
“For example, high potency products, they have got recounted. “For 3%? That’s not a big difference. But
to collect double or triple the tax. Otherwise, what that is the current situation.”
is the interest to the cultivators and the extraction
company? Because they will continue to shop around To remedy the “current situation” Cho is ada-
regardless; this is a free market.” mant that offending labs and companies need to be
charged more by the state.
As an honest cannabis lab operator, Cho has watched
his clients slowly leave him to more obliging compet- “There’s no clear solution other than taxing or some
itors – even if those labs were only offering a smidge other kind of money-related [proposal],” he said.
more THC on the products’ labels. “Otherwise, this is going to keep on going.”

16 | Analytical Cannabis Digest

 April 2023

Tackling Cannabis Facility Design

with Urban-Gro
By Alexander Beadle

F
or every prospective cannabis cultivator, the Controlled environment agriculture and
first decisions to be made are on the cultiva- facility expertise
tion facility itself. Whether to grow indoors or
outdoors? How large should the facility be? Should As a team of architects, engineers, horticulture
it be a greenhouse? All of these are major points experts, and construction managers, urban-gro has
for consideration. already helped to conceptualize, design, and build
commercial and industrial facilities across a wide
To learn more about the services that are available to range of industries.
new cultivators setting up shop, Analytical Cannabis
spoke with Arie Kamp, managing director at urban- But for the cannabis market, it is urban-gro’s spe-
gro Europe, a leading architectural and engineering cialism in solutions for controlled environment
firm that is already applying its design-build exper- agriculture (CEA) that is turning heads.
tise to the cannabis industry.

analyticalcannabis.com | 17
 Analytical Cannabis Digest

CEA is a technology-focused approach to crop cul- Consider facility location and scale
tivation. The goal is to precisely maintain optimal
growing conditions for a plant at all stages of its life, There is no “one size fits all” solution to designing
which should then maximize crop quality and yield. anything, let alone a cannabis facility. As Kamp
Within the cannabis industry especially, CEA has explains, the geographical location of a facility can
taken off as a way to exert more control on what is dramatically inf luence the direction in which a cul-
otherwise a very diverse and variable plant. tivation boss or a designer might want to take things.

“What you see in the southern European compa-

nies is that the indoor [facilities] for cultivation in
the southern part are of a different structure than
what you would require in Germany, for instance,”
Our knowledge of what Kamp said. “It is all to do with the configuration of
we have experienced the company itself, what they demand and how they
control the product.”
in the US and what we
have created, [we are] “You have other regulations, and for certain build-
ings or setups, or growing methods, it’s not possi-
modifying it into a way ble to do that [compliantly]. So, for instance, if you
that we can implement do outdoor [cultivation], it’s much harder to create
European GMP [good manufacturing practices]
in Germany. standards, because the percentage of THC or CBD
varies. But with indoor [cultivation], you can fully
control that.”

That also isn’t to say that having one large-scale

“We started expanding into Europe basically with indoor cultivation facility is the best way to go. As
the design of indoor facilities in the CEA area,” Kamp explained, facility size is something that com-
recalled Kamp. “We, mainly in the US, have pro- panies must consider carefully. Having an extremely
ceeded into design and design-build professional large cultivation greenhouse might sound like an
services for all the indoor cannabis-related or attractive idea in theory, but these ventures can
food-related projects.” cause significant headaches when it comes to pest
control, disease prevention, and other day-to-day
“[In the] last couple of years, we’ve expanded quite management issues.
rapidly due to the numerous acquisitions in the
field of the services that we provide. Architectural, “With my former company, I was also involved in
mechanical, electrical, plumbing, all of that. What the cannabis industry, I was involved with the latest
we can do is offer a customer or investor a full range solutions for Canada. So the big parties with their
of what is required for designing these facilities.” big, big facilities – 80,000 square meters facilities,”
Arie said. “Unfortunately, in Canada it completely
Urban-gro Europe is headquartered in the backfired. They were too big on the size of the cul-
Netherlands, with the US office based out of tivation plots.”
Colorado. In addition to offering services in Europe
and North America, its consultants also work on “An interesting thought for urban-gro is that they
projects in South America, Africa, and across the saw the possibilities of the 5,000 square meter cen-
Middle East. ter, which is much more feasible, and controllable on
the issues of diseases to be controlled than those big
“We are Dutch-based and I’m a Dutch person,” Kamp facilities,” Kamp recalled. “So that for me was one of
said. “I’m local, I’ve been in the industry of horticul- the interesting key items, and also what we thought
ture for more than 27 years already. So I know all was important to get the market in Europe more on
the players, partnerships that we can create, that are that scale as well.”
required to do a full range of supplied [services].”

18 | Analytical Cannabis Digest

 April 2023

The future of cannabis cultivation in As the laws regarding cannabis use change, it is
Europe also likely that the industry will see more cannabis
cultivators spring up within the European market.
In recent weeks, Germany has emerged as a Similarly to the pattern being seen in the food indus-
European frontrunner on the issue of cannabis try, concerns over market instability and greenhouse
legalization. Despite initial concerns over European gas production may also stoke interest in small-to-
Union approval, the German Health Minister, Karl mid-scale local cultivation operations.
Lauterbach, said earlier this week that a compliant
bill to legalize cannabis in Germany could be pub- “[Crops are] being produced at the moment outdoors
lished as early as the end of March. in Africa or other countries, and for the CO2 foot-
print to be reduced, you will see that there’s a lot of
If Germany’s attempt to legalize cannabis is success- companies wanting to do local,” Kamp said. “And for
ful, it could dramatically change the face of the can- that reason, the indoor solutions that we can provide
nabis cultivation sector in Europe, Kamp believes. to these companies is very important as well.”

“Germany is a very important country in the

European Union, and therefore, if Germany sets
this bar of how they want to get legalized, the next
countries will be the Czech Republic; Holland
was already involved in a cannabis experiment [...]
Portugal is already doing the medicinal side of grow-
ing with that being standard on GMP,” Kamp said.
“Our knowledge of what we have experienced in the
US and what we have created, [we are] modifying it
into a way that we can implement in Germany.”

analyticalcannabis.com | 19
 Analytical Cannabis Digest

Out of CANNtext
I “The continued existence
n an industry awash with milestone events and
expert-led commentary, we know it’s impossible to
keep up to speed with it all. To help you out we’ve of illegal dispensaries is
pulled together a selection of our favorite quotes and unacceptable, and we need
comments from key opinion leaders from across the
industry this month. additional enforcement tools
to protect New Yorkers from
dangerous products and
support our equity initiatives.”
New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, said the
above in a recent press release. Hochul plans
to introduce legislation to better enable law
enforcement to crack down on illicit cannabis
retailers in the state.

“We congratulate Tori Armbrust

of Satori Farms PDX LLC for
being issued the first psilocybin
license in Oregon’s history and
for representing women leading
the way for the emerging
psilocybin ecosystem.”
Oregon Psilocybin Services Section Manager
Angie Allbee said the above in a statement. Satori
Farms PDX LLC is the first company is the US to
receive a license for psilocybin services.

“We will soon present a proposal

that works, that is, that conforms
to European law.”
Translated from…

“Wir werden demnächst

einen Vorschlag vorlegen,
der funktioniert, der also
europarechtlich konform is.”
Karl Lauterbach, Germany’s federal minister of
health, said the above at a recent press event
about when the country’s legal cannabis bill will
be presented.

20 | Analytical Cannabis Digest

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 March 2022

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analyticalcannabis.com | 22