How to read a cannabis lab report like an expert

Plus: Rulemaking begins for Minnesota's legal pot industry

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CHRONICLING LEGAL CANNABIS IN MINNESOTA

CHRONICLING LEGAL
CANNABIS IN MINNESOTA

In this week’s Nuggets: OCM officially launches rulemaking for the cannabis industry; Minnesota homegrowers take us into their gardens; a visit to Minnesota’s most prominent testing facility; and expert tips for reading cannabis product lab reports.

Sample lab reports, also known as certificates of analysis (COAs), for cannabis products from Legend Technical Services, a cannabis testing facility in St. Paul. - Matt DeLong, Star Tribune

First, a roundup of the past week’s cannabis news:

OCM asks for public input as it launches rulemaking: The new agency charged with overseeing Minnesota’s adult-use and medical cannabis markets, the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), announced Monday that it has started the rulemaking process to establish the regulatory framework for the state’s cannabis industry. The first step is a survey seeking the public’s input on the cultivation, processing and manufacturing of cannabis products. The agency said more surveys will follow on other topics, including medical cannabis and hemp-derived products, and a series of in-person and virtual meetings will allow the public to participate in the process.

Olmsted County official named to state’s Cannabis Advisory Council: Olmsted County Commissioner Laurel Podulke-Smith has been chosen by the Association of Minnesota Counties’ Executive Committee as its representative on the state’s Cannabis Advisory Council, KTTC reports. The panel was created by the state’s new cannabis law to advise the OCM on a range of topics. See the list of available council positions here.

Photos of moldy buds cause an uproar on Reddit: Reddit user sacredfungi posted photos Friday purportedly of medical cannabis purchased from Green Goods’ Bloomington location that showed signs of browning due to bud rot, also known as botrytis or gray mold, on several buds. Green Goods’ owner Vireo Health recently released three new strains: Blue Runtz, Fried Ice Cream and Gelonade, the strain named on the package in the Reddit post. Vireo spokesperson Amanda Hutcheson told the Star Tribune in a statement Monday that the company is “aware of one patient who returned their product with the concern you mention, and a second patient who returned their product with questions about it. Both patients were given a full refund.” The company noted that all three new strains were tested for contaminants and fell below the legal limit for total yeast and mold. “If patients ever have concerns about products they have purchased, we encourage them to reach out to our team for answers or bring the product back in for a full refund,” Hutcheson said. The state Office of Medical Cannabis said it is aware of the issue and is investigating. Medical patients, especially those with compromised immune systems, should not smoke flower they suspect of being contaminated with mold. If you find mold in cannabis you purchased through the state medical program, please email us at nuggets@startribune.com.

The Hideaway cancels consumption event after dispute with Coon Rapids: Finally, a cautionary tale for cannabis business owners about the importance of keeping abreast of local ordinances, in addition to state and federal laws. The Hideaway head shop in Coon Rapids canceled its Fall Pot Luck last weekend after the city raised concerns about a plan to allow on-site cannabis consumption. The event was set to feature vendors, live music, food trucks and a “BYOW” consumption space on the business’ enclosed patio. Coon Rapids City Clerk Joan Lenzmeier told Nuggets in an email that she notified the Hideaway that the event would have violated a city ordinance prohibiting the consumption of cannabis at a business without a cannabis event organizer license from the state. It also would have put the Hideaway’s license to sell hemp-derived cannabinoid products in jeopardy because city code bars license holders from allowing “an edible cannabinoid product to be consumed at their primary place of business.” The Hideaway chose to scrap the event rather than hold it without allowing consumption. A representative of the Hideaway told Nuggets that the company hopes to hold a similar event in the future in Minneapolis, where it has another store.

Did you miss last week's Nuggets? Read it here.

Nov. 2: Minnesota Monthly CannaFest - "Set in a grand and modern venue, the finest cannabis businesses from across the state will sample and sell THC and CBD foods, beverages, healing products, and more." - Quincy Hall, 1325 Quincy St. NE., Minneapolis. More info and tickets.

Talk to us! Send feedback on this newsletter, events, questions, story tips or new feature ideas to nuggets@startribune.com

Harold Robinson and Angela Dawson admire their flowering marijuana plants in their greenhouse at their home in Rutledge, Minn. The couple has been growing CBD-rich hemp for four years, but with the new marijuana law, they started growing their own cannabis plants to relieve Dawson’s chronic pain and to treat Robinson’s PTSD stemming from his military service. - Angelina Katsanis, Star Tribune

Homegrowers, show off your plants! Share your best photo with us and we'll publish one each week in Nuggets. File size must be at least 1MB. By submitting a photo you are affirming that you own the rights to it and you are granting permission to the Star Tribune to publish it on its platforms.

When you’re shopping for cannabis products, the number and diversity of items on the shelves can be intimidating. How do you know that the THC content listed on the label is accurate? Is it contaminated with pesticides or mold? Has it had all of the required safety testing? Fortunately, most products tested at Legend Technical Services in St. Paul — the first lab in the country to be accredited to the highest standard for cannabis testing by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation — are pretty good on these counts, said Taylor Schertler, who manages Legend’s hemp and cannabis testing program. But that’s not always the case.

“On the potency side, one of the largest issues we see is discrepancies between the advertised cannabinoid content and the actual lab-tested potency of a product,” Schertler said. He added that the vast majority of all THC-infused products that come through the lab pass the safety tests.

Emily Hoffman, a chemist with Legend Technical Services in St. Paul, holds a vial containing cannabis flower prepared for testing. - Matt DeLong, Star Tribune

The OCM will establish testing requirements for recreational cannabis products during its rulemaking process. Safety testing standards for medical cannabis flower can be found in this document, starting on page 47. Limits for medical gummies, tinctures and other products are here. For hemp-derived cannabinoid products, the Minnesota Department of Health shared these guidelines:

At minimum, the testing must confirm the finished product:

We asked Schertler and his colleagues — Tom Barrett, Legend vice president and director of the cannabis program, as well as chemist and analyst Emily Hoffman — to share some advice for making sense of a cannabis product lab report, also referred to as a certificate of analysis (COA).

Last Friday, Nuggets visited Legend Technical Services’ St. Paul facility, located in a concrete and glass building in a business park less than a mile north of the state Capitol. The entrance is lined with cubicles, and a hall circling the interior of the facility leads you to a series of laboratories. This is where employees (notably, many are not wearing lab coats) determine the potency of cannabis products using boxy blue liquid chromatograph machines, and analyze terpene content of flower and test for residual solvents in concentrates with large white gas chromatography-mass spectrometry instruments, all aided by a universe of test tubes and gadgets. After a tour, we sat down to talk about the cannabis testing business.

Vice president of analytical services, Legend Technical Services

Administrative manager, Legend Technical Services

Chemist and analyst, Legend Technical Services

Tell me about the history of Legend Technical Services.

Barrett: We’ve been in business since the early 1990s, been in this facility since 2005. We started as a company doing industrial hygiene and environmental chemistry. We still do a lot of industrial hygiene, environmental chemistry has been shifting and now our primary lab focus is medical device testing and cannabis testing.

So cannabis is a big part of what you do here.

Barrett: It has grown tremendously in the last couple of years, with the rollout of medical cannabis and the expansion of hemp. We see cannabis continuing to grow in the future.

How long have you been doing cannabis testing?

Barrett: When the medical cannabis law was first passed, we jumped on board right away with that and were online to support that testing when that was rolled out in 2016.

What percentage of your business right now is cannabis-related?

Barrett: Probably 25%.

Chemist Emily Hoffman demonstrates how THC-infused gummies are prepared for potency testing. - Matt DeLong, Star Tribune

Do people need to be trained specifically for cannabis testing?

Barrett: Yeah. We hire skilled chemists, you also have to be pretty [knowledgeable] on the state regulations. We have to be ISO-accredited. That’s basically a governing body, ISO 17025, the international standard for laboratory testing. That entails an external auditing of all our methods, procedures, documentation, etc.

There are not many cannabis testing labs in the state currently, correct?

Barrett: We are the only lab that I know of in the state that can do all of the testing as required by the state guidelines. There are some labs that do some of the testing, like potency.

Can you each talk about how you got involved with cannabis testing?

Barrett: I first started at Legend in 1994 or 1995. I left in around 2000 and came back in 2009. My background is chemistry. We got involved in cannabis because it was a business opportunity. We thought, “well, we’ve got all the necessary expertise and equipment. Let’s look into it.” That’s all she wrote.

Hoffman: I’ve been at Legend for eight years. My background is in chemistry. When I started here, we were just getting going with the cannabis program. I got assigned to work on some of those projects and I never left. I never thought my entire job would revolve around cannabis, but it does. I’ve been instrumental in getting our methods validated and accredited. If clients have new requirements, a lot of times it falls to me to try and figure it out.

Barrett: Emily’s also been a subject-matter expert in trials. So she’s been called to testify in criminal cases before.

Schertler: I’ve been at Legend for four years now, and I got involved in the cannabis program about two years ago. I’m the project manager for the hemp and cannabis program. I’m the direct point of contact with the growers. I review all of the samples that come in to make sure we’re going to perform the correct testing regimen, issue reports, and troubleshooting whenever oddities come up.

What kind of oddities might come up?

Schertler: Whenever we get a new matrix type [a gummy, plant material, vape oil, etc] — there’s such a plethora of things that people are putting CBD and THC into — all too often we’ll get a sample type that will perform strangely. Part of working in an investigative lab is we do things that haven’t really been done before.

What do you test cannabis products for?

Hoffman: The primary one that everybody wants is potency — how much THC, CBD, etc., is in your product. After that would be terpenes. A lot of people are very interested in the terpenes. Either they think it has some sort of benefit when you add it to the product or they’re just curious. After that would be your safety testing: residual solvents, heavy metals, microbial analysis, mycotoxins and pesticides.

Do you get many failures?

Schertler: I wouldn’t say a lot, but it’s not uncommon.

Are some of these products on the market?

If we were to test a pack of gummies and it came out to be above the legal limit, because I’m the one issuing the reports, I will always notify the client that the product tested above the limit. As far as what they do with their product after I deliver those results, that’s up to them.

If a product tests over the legal limit, you aren’t required to notify anybody or record it in any way?

Hoffman: All the data is confidential. It goes only to the client that submitted it.

What tests do you recommend clients get if they want to put something on the market?

Schertler: The full gamut.

Do they generally do that?

Schertler: Generally, yeah. Whenever I get a new client who’s making some kind of edible product, I’ll let them know this is the testing regimen that you will need to bring your product to market in Minnesota. Fortunately, the vast majority of new clients who get in contact with me will agree with that.

Barrett: Because that is part of the state statute. It has to be free of contaminants.

Schertler: There are, unfortunately, some individuals who even after I tell them that this is what Minnesota requires, will say they only want potency and that’s all they will request. Those people are few and far between, though.