MEDICAL MARIJUANA: Call for National Lab Testing Standards

This article focuses on the lack of national standards for laboratories that test medical and recreational marijuana products. Specifically, it discusses how the lack of national standards for testing marijuana products impacts the public health of consumers and the marijuana industry. It also discusses the various methodologies, approaches and equipment that laboratories should be required to use to test marijuana products for: (1) Potency; (2) Heavy Metals; (3) Pesticides; (4) Residual Solvents; (5) Terpine Profiles; (6) Microbes, Fungi and Mycotoxins; and (7) Moisture Content and Water Activity. Finally, it presents specific, proposed national standards that the federal government should consider implementing to protect consumers who purchase marijuana products.