Legal cannabis labels inflate THC potency contained in products, executives say
Legal cannabis labels inflate THC potency contained in products, executives say
A group of independent studies suggest that labels for dozens of products do not match the reality of the potency stated, often containing 20 per cent less THC than listed
Love how legalization just has resulted in yet another field for capitalists to lie about their products...
I don't remember a weed dealer not lying about how strong their weed is though, I'd say business as usual
Idk, I knew a dealer who used to say that people exaggerated and that none of his were more than "30%" since anything more than that is a scam, if only because of how fast you can process THC.
The cannabis industry, legal or otherwise, has always been full of lies and pseudoscience. If it's not the big business capitalists, it was the small time dealer capitalists.
When asking for suggestions, budtenders still ask me if I want Indica or Sativa. I always answer, "it doesn't matter." They should know it doesn't matter and not be pushing decades-old debunked info.
We, black market edible producers, categorize our caramels by what they are used for. Our customers then name them. Our big ones right now are Nite Nites and Laffy Taffy. I call them sleepy caramels and party caramels. I ask how much people weigh and how experienced they are and tell them how much I weigh and how much I take then suggest a starting dose and tell them how adjust the dose until they find the right amount for them.
I worked as a budtender and once I learned the truth I tried to share it with customers, but they don't care. For some reason, 'sativa v indica' is easier than "How much thc will get me high". Instead I inquired to their tastes and offered... local first 😎 fuck the Californian goons.
I was also only allowed to share my mind at this one place I worked because they don't give a shit to a different extent. I worked at another company called Inspired and they actively wanted me to peddle product customers didn't want 🤷 only sales numbers mattered.
Cannabis industry sucks. Not to mention minimum wage, so don't actually expect much from them.
Lol it does matter. I can tell if there is even a hint of indica in weed, because it affects me different than pure sativa. Night and day difference.
Well, when the government fails to adequately regulate, leaving it up to industry to self-report, this is the only foreseeable outcome - for pretty much any industry.
Greed is a massively corrupting influence.I know that the producers don’t self-report. They’re supposed to contract with testing labs, but when there’s a lack of standardized procedures and oversight, the producers lab-shop until they find a lab that has tweaked their processes in such a way that reports favorably on even substandard goods.
In that way, the labs become facilitators of a flawed regulatory process.The only real fix is more and better oversight (including verification of results from testing laboratories) and standardization of testing procedures.
Having worked at two Licensed Producers of cannabis, I can tell you that for the entire crop they only need to take one sample, that sample represents the THC level of the entire harvested batch. So of course they cherry pick the best looking samples to send out.
Its a huge problem here in the US. My friend works in a lab that does tests on samples from all over. Their lab is close to shutting down because they dont inflate numbers like the other labs in the state. So the other dispensaries are passing over their lab for other ones that do inflate numbers. Its terrible. Also as someone who grows their own, you can just tell the home grown has way more potency than the highest stuff they sell at a dispensary.
I've always said, when you grow it yourself, you put time and money to grow the best crop you can. When you grow to make money you go for the fastest and cheapest grow.
True that. I even use autoflowers most of the time so the grow is significantly shorter and the product is no different from a photoperiod plant. But the mass production for dispensaries are just gross and overpriced. Plus all my friends get to enjoy some potent home grown of their choosing!
MMJ is an absolute fucking mess. It's great that we can begin to get past the human rights abuses of the war on drugs, but there's so much work to be done to make it a safe and effective medicine. So much research is lacking. So much documentation is lacking. So much credentialing lacking. CBD potency is plummeting and it's painful. Dispensaries are run by young kids that just think its fun, and they keep recommending me strains that are fucking hell on my anxiety. Give me a damn pharmacist!
Think this problem stems from it being only medical in most places. I have a script in Florida but it's in no way a medical need like it is for your anxiety. So you have this large mix of people just looking to get high legally and also those there for legit pain/anxiety medication.
We need to separate these and give doctors more power to do what's right.
What do you mean? It's legal everywhere in Canada
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Some critics attribute the disparities to a lack of standardized testing methods and government oversight, saying producers are cherry-picking and processing samples in ways that are not representative of entire batches of pot and the THC contained in the end product.
Health Canada says it is reviewing complaints about inaccurate labels, and in July it launched a data collection program that involves comparing product results to potency claims.
Gord Nichol, president of family-run Saskatchewan producer North 40 Cannabis, said he independently tested 33 competing products, and found the results to be “abysmal,” with only around a fifth meeting “acceptable” variances.
Miguel Martin, CEO of Edmonton-based Aurora Cannabis Inc., agreed that the lack of national sampling protocols has resulted in “variability” in interpretation of the accepted testing methodology.
Health Canada told The Globe that is reviewing complaints made about inaccurate potency labels, and the information received will be used to conduct further compliance monitoring this fiscal year.
“The department is currently working with licence holders to address inspection observations and to ensure that the THC content value displayed on the label is representative of the cannabis product,” Ms. Jarbeau said.
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My wife works for a huge cannabis compliance lab. They’re losing so much business because they refuse to risk their license and breach ethics by inflating potency numbers or passing fails on harmful pesticides. Some labs are saying flower is 40%-50% thc. There’s no such thing as flower with that percent. They’ve never seen it. Ever. It’s quite a bummer.
THC potentcy means almost nothing, and anyone who takes that number into account is being a lazy consumer.
Where's a good resource to learn more about what numbers/details ARE significant? The industry has changed eo much and I never know how to select properly
If your state has terpene amounts and types listed its probably better to pick based on those. You can find guides with terpene types and purported effects online. When you're researching how to choose flower look for articles that mention entourage effects as these are the interactions between terps and thc. Also, the guys who are really into this stuff talk about type 1 and type 2 flower so there's something else to look up. Take it all with some salt and watch out for people that use science words to replace magic and you'll be on your way. The fun part is trying all the flower and seeing which terps work best for you!
For me it’s rarely about the hard numbers and more about the lineage of the strains, the reputation of the growers, and the reviews of other cannabis users. I like to cross reference resources like Wikileaks, Leafly, Weedmaps, and local reviews to narrow in on strains that help me.
If I walk into a store and can talk to the budtender about what I’m looking for in a product and what I’m using it to treat and they recommend a strain or two I already know works for me, I’m much more likely to listen to their other recommendations I haven’t tried than those of someone who doesn’t. Over just the last few months of being a licensed patient in Oklahoma, I’ve found 3 different dispensaries I’ll go to for recommendations because they’ve been consistently on point.
And at all 3 of those independent locations, they tell me not to look at the THC but at the terpene profiles. I find that the presence of Caryophyllene and Limonene and Myrcene are all great indicators that a particular strain will be good for my needs.
It’s like picking a whiskey based off of the ABV, but sometimes the lower THC can get you higher due to the cannabinoid differences.
Play around and find what gives you the benefits you want.
Its MUCH less about numbers and details than it is about the entorage effect. From my understanding, the entorage effect is a change in how you perceive the high depending on what kind of terpenes are present in the strain / phenotype.
For example, a really terpy, stinking strain with low THC% could produce a better high (for you) than a high THC flower with less / unideal (for you) terps. In my experience, THC% has little to no effect on how the bud actually hits, and is just juiced up as marketing lingo.
Put simply, and I know this is vague, but experiment and find what terpenes / flavor profiles you like, you'll find similarities in high between strains that have similar terps (i.e., knowing you really like lemon strains, citrus strains, etc.) Then buy what fits your tastes!
EDIT: I agree with WhiteOakBayou, its about finding the terps for you.
I wouldn't say that it means almost nothing, but it means a lot less than most users think. I know what terps and minor cannabinoids I like and how they affect me, but I also know that flower under ~20% THC will leave me too lucid to reliably get to sleep, which is my primary medical use. But you definitely can't go off that number alone like so many customers. It's not a perfect analogy, but I think of it kind of as the THC percentage being the base magic power of the flower/character, while the terps and minors are the spells and elements and shit that you actually use. That measure is both essential to the effects of the flower and next to useless by itself, like the magic stat on a character with no spells. A flower with high THC and low terps is like a character with high magic power fueling low level spells.
What is absolutely correct is that the worst, laziest consumers don't know about any other number and refuse to listen or learn. People who know that they matter, who enjoy them all and tell me to pick them something good, I respect. People who tell me "CBD doesn't do anything for me!" and insist on the flower with the one big number when I suggest a CBN edible to help with their insomnia I do not respect. "I need the highest for the lowest" is worse than "I only smoke an unstable dihybrid cross from the 70s" but they frequently go hand in hand.
LMAO I totally agree, and very valid point with the medical use, I only use recreationally so I hadnt even thought of that angle.
The consequence is that those lazy buyers are shaping the markets in a lot of states towards producing as much "high for the low" as possible.
Dealers have always exaggerated how "fire" their latest acquire was.
Seems ill-conceived to require those lies in writing and not check their quality, though.
Once legal cannabis meets both the quality and cost of the black market and if the guy who have been buying from since 1966 quits selling, I might try the legal market.
I’ll never stop buying direct from a small time grower.
Me too . I never buy from a legal source . I can get 3.5 grams of shatter for $60 from my supplier. Where the legal source sells it for $55 a gram . I also know some one who works for a weed supplier and was told the weed gets left out and turns moldy and then they just blast it with radiation before packaging it.
I been wondering what these boxes were, seeing tones of these as trash all along roads and public parks.