Doctors Get New Clinical Guidelines for Managing Chronic Pain With Cannabis, Courtesy of Canadian Researchers
by Bethan Rose
It has become quite common for cannabis companies to send their products off to third-party testing facilities in order to assure the quality of and quantity of cannabinoids in their products. By involving third-party facilities, the products are analyzed and tested through the eyes of objectivity as opposed to the cannabis company’s subjectivity over their own products. While this is all good for consumers, having access to the scientific testing document (the COA) can be difficult to read since most consumers are non-scientists.
As the world starts to consume more and more cannabis as a collective, it becomes more important for science to be presented in an understandable manner for the consumers. In this case, it means that consumers need to know how third-party testing is conducted, how to get important information out of the Certificate of Analysis (the COA) as well as how to understand what is important in that scientific document.
Simply put, this is a test done by a testing/research facility that is both separate, independent, and has no financial interest in the results of the testing. The results need to be accurate and reliable when it comes to the product in question. These third-party tests deliver Certificates of Analysis which covers purity, potency, pesticides, and more.
Consumers should be aware that there are in fact reports of fraud and misrepresented Certificates of Analysis in the market. This stems from lack of standardized regulation and dishonest manufacturers who want to sell inflated THC percentages and hide certain contaminant data, thereby corrupting some testing labs.
For the most part, cannabis companies have no issue getting their products tested by third-party facilities and pride themselves on the commitment to transparency of results. The cannabis industry is still trying to establish proper regulation over products, which is what makes the COA important. The Certificate of Analysis offers up a report of the results from a series of testing by a laboratory.
By having a scientific document such as this, it provides customers with certainty of contents and can be used to ensure that the product is safe. For companies, it can also help keep their products consistent, which helps to build up a rapport with consumers. Therefore, in the midst of missing regulation, the COA is quite important for consumers and not just the companies of the products.
The following are the main categories covered on a COA:
When looking at them, the amount will be displayed using a quantity determinant such as milligrams (mg). It should also be known that the specific substance is often called an “analyte”. The results on this are somewhat based on the type of test used to detect the analyte. The LOQ can sometimes be represented as a plus or a minus as the substance can be there but the actual amount or concentration thereof has not been determined. I know, it’s confusing…just bear with me.
The LOD and LOQ are used as equivalent terms and serve as an indication of how well the third-party facility can detect a specific substance. So, as a consumer, this does not tell us much about the plant, but rather about how good the testing was. This breakdown is intended to make a COA easy to understand, but there are valuables and symbols used by the scientists, which can throw off any person that isn’t scientifically inclined. For consumers, it is important to know that the product contains the stipulated amounts of cannabinoids and that the products are free from any toxins and harmful substances.
Consumers should ask themselves: (1) is the product providing the number of cannabinoids they claim to, (2) do they test for toxins, metals and solvents, and (3) do they state what substances (such as terpenes) were found in the cannabis.
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