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Overview of the cannabis industry in the United States

Introduction

Cannabis is a rapid-growing, flowering plant that has been used for centuries for industrial, medicinal, and recreational purposes. The plant includes three species or subspecies: indica, ruderalis, and sativa.[1] Both industrial hemp and recreational marijuana are derived from cannabis plants, but with important differences in biochemical composition. Hemp — which has historically been used to create clothing, food and feed, paper, textiles, and other industrial items — tends to have lower levels of the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and higher levels of the non-psychoactive component cannabidiol (CBD).[2][3] Some cannabis strains have intentionally been bred to produce low levels of THC, while others have been bred with the intent to maximize the psychoactive component.

Cannabis cultivation began in England's Jamestown colony of America in earnest around 1611, via formal orders. Several years later those orders turned into a royal decree, enacted by the Virginia Company, asking colonists to grow 100 hemp plants for export to England.[3] Colonial American continued its growth, use, and exportation of hemp, even beyond the foundation of the United States. During that time, growers undoubtedly were using the female plant (which flowers and has higher levels of THC) to treat aches and pains as well as enjoy it recreationally. By the time of the U.S. Civil War arrived in the 1860s, however,the growth and use of industrial hemp declined as increased cotton and wood use took away much of the profitability of hemp.[3] Around the same time, local governments began recognizing tonics, tinctures, and extracts from cannabis plants as potentially dangerous substances, labeling them as hypnotics, narcotics, or even poisons.[4] In the early twentieth century, U.S. labeling and prescription laws — such as the the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 at the federal level as well as various state laws — saw further restrictions put on cannabis, effectively culminating in the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. With the passage of those acts, hemp and marijuana essentially became illegal, controlled substances.[5][6][7]

State efforts to decriminalize marijuana were somewhat successful in the early 1970s, though progress towards that goal slowed again with the Reagan Administration's war on drugs.[8] Progress picked up steam again in the late 1990s into the 2000s, particularly in states such as California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Washington, and Colorado.

As of January 2017, twenty-eight U.S. states have approved some sort of decriminalization or legalization of medicinal and/or recreational marijuana.[9] Industrial hemp has also been addressed in some regard, with 16 states having legalized commercialized industrial help production, with federal removal of hemp containing no more than 0.3 percent THC from the controlled substances list.[10] However, cannabis containing more than 0.3 percent THC remains remains a Schedule I controlled substance, as determined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.[11] This federal classification continues to clash with changing state laws and regulations at an increasing pace, creating both opportunities and difficulties for involved citizens at all points along the industrial, economic, and social chain.

Testing and research

One area that continues to expand — while taking advantage of new scientific research and techniques — is the laboratory sphere, particularly in research, regulation, and standardization activities. While the research, analysis, and processing of cannabis has been ongoing for centuries[3], it wasn't until 1896 that Wood et al. conducted one of the first documented chemical experiments to determine the constituents of cannabis. Several years later, the researchers were able to correctly identify the extracted and isolated cannabinol from the exuded resin of Indian hemp as C21H26O2.[12] As of mid-2015, 104 of the more than 750 constituents of Cannabis sativa have been identified as cannabinoids[13], "a class of diverse chemical compounds that act on cannabinoid receptors in cells that modulate neurotransmitter release in the brain."[14]

Yet when it comes to 1. enacting the broad level of testing required to ensure public safety — whether it be medical, recreational, or industrial use of cannabis — and 2. researching and better understanding the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (medical use and benefit) of cannabinoids in the human population, many have argued that laboratory testing of cannabis is still in its infancy[15][16][17][18][19][20] and evidence-based research of marijuana continues to be slow and bogged down in regulation.[21][22][23][24][25]

Other concerns

Regulatory scheme

Federal

State medical and recreational

Laboratory testing of cannabis

Tests and standards

Reports

Lab equipment used

Software

Testing labs and pricing info

Future of cannabis testing and market trends

Resources

Trade shows

Producers and vendors

Software vendors

LIMS

Seed-to-sale

LIMSpec

References

  1. "Genus: Cannabis L.". U.S. National Plant Germplasm System. U.S. Department of Agriculture. 1 January 2011. https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxonomygenus.aspx?id=2034. Retrieved 20 January 2017. 
  2. Swanson, T.E. (2015). "Controlled Substances Chaos: The Department of Justice's New Policy Position on Marijuana and What It Means for Industrial Hemp Farming in North Dakota" (PDF). North Dakota Law Review 90 (3): 599–622. https://law.und.edu/_files/docs/ndlr/pdf/issues/90/3/90ndlr599.pdf. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Deitch, R. (2003). Hemp – American History Revisited. New York City: Algora Publishing. pp. 232. ISBN 9780875862262. 
  4. U.S. Senate (15 February 1860). "Senate". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1860/02/16/news/senate-88150825.html. Retrieved 20 January 2017. 
  5. Walton, R.F. (1938). Marijuana, America’s New Drug Problem. Philadelphia: B. Lippincott. p. 37. 
  6. Woodward, W.C.; House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means (4 May 1937). "Taxation of Marihuana". Schaffer Library of Drug Policy. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/taxact/woodward.htm. Retrieved 20 January 2017. 
  7. Cavers, D.F. (1939). "The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938: Its Legislative History and its Substantive Provisions". Law and Contemporary Problems 6: 2–42. http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol6/iss1/2/. 
  8. Meier, K.J. (2016). The Politics of Sin: Drugs, Alcohol and Public Policy: Drugs, Alcohol and Public Policy. Taylor & Francis. p. 58. ISBN 9781315287270. https://books.google.com/books?id=J4wYDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT58. 
  9. Steinmetz, K. (8 November 2016). "These States Just Legalized Marijuana". Time. Time, Inc. http://time.com/4559278/marijuana-election-results-2016/. Retrieved 20 January 2017. 
  10. "State Industrial Hemp Statuses". National Conference of State Legislatures. 19 August 2016. http://www.ncsl.org/research/agriculture-and-rural-development/state-industrial-hemp-statutes.aspx. Retrieved 20 January 2017. 
  11. Leger, D.L. (11 August 2016). "Marijuana to remain illegal under federal law, DEA says". USA. Today. Gannett Company. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/08/11/dea-marijuana-remains-illegal-under-federal-law/88550804/. Retrieved 20 January 2017. 
  12. Wood, T.B.; Newton Spivey, W.T.; Easterfield, T.H. (1899). "III.—Cannabinol. Part I". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions 75: 30–36. doi:10.1039/CT8997500020. 
  13. Radwan, M.M.; ElSohly, M.A.; El-Alfy, A.T. et al. (2015). "Isolation and pharmacological evaluation of minor cannabinoids from high-potency Cannabis sativa". Journal of Natural Products 78 (6): 1271-6. doi:10.1021/acs.jnatprod.5b00065. PMC PMC4880513. PMID 26000707. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4880513. 
  14. World Health Organization (2016). Hall, W.; Renström, M.; Poznyak, V.. ed. The health and social effects of nonmedical cannabis use. World Health Organization. pp. 95. ISBN 978921510240. http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/cannabis/en/. 
  15. Hazekamp, A.; Fischedick, J.T. (2012). "Cannabis - from cultivar to chemovar". Drug Testing and Analysis 4 (7–8): 660–7. doi:10.1002/dta.407. PMID 22362625. 
  16. Bush, E. (18 February 2015). "World’s strongest weed? Potency testing challenged". The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company. http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/worldrsquos-strongest-weed-potency-testing-challenged/. Retrieved 25 January 2017. 
  17. Rutsch, P. (24 March 2015). "Quality-Testing Legal Marijuana: Strong But Not Always Clean". Shots. National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/24/395065699/quality-testing-legal-marijuana-strong-but-not-always-clean. Retrieved 25 January 2017. 
  18. Kuzdzal, S.; Lipps, W. (2015). "Unraveling the Cannabinome". The Analytical Scientist (0915). https://theanalyticalscientist.com/issues/0915/unraveling-the-cannabinome/. Retrieved 19 January 2017. 
  19. Crombie, N. (25 July 2016). "Marijuana labs prepping for regulation and oversight; no lab licenses issued yet". The Oregonian. Oregon Live LLC. http://www.oregonlive.com/marijuana/index.ssf/2016/07/marijuana_labs_prepping_for_st.html. Retrieved 25 January 2017. 
  20. Kuzdzal, S.; Clifford, R.; Winkler, P.; Bankert, W. (December 2016). "A Closer Look at Cannabis Testing" (PDF). Shimadzu Corporation. Archived from the original on 19 January 2017. http://web.archive.org/web/20170119191646/http://event.lvl3.on24.com/event/13/38/14/4/rt/1/documents/resourceList1484589923854/emerging_cannabis_industry_whitepaper.pdf. Retrieved 19 January 2017. 
  21. Bajaj, V. (30 July 2014). "How the Federal Government Slows Marijuana Research". Taking Note: The New York Times. The New York Times Company. https://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/how-the-federal-government-slows-marijuana-research/. Retrieved 25 January 2017. 
  22. Chesler, J.; Ard, A. (15 August 2015). "Government restrictions, lack of funding slow progress on medical marijuana research". News21: America's Weed Rush. Carnegie Corporation of New York; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. http://weedrush.news21.com/government-restrictions-lack-of-funding-slow-progress-on-medical-marijuana-research/. Retrieved 25 January 2017. 
  23. Weiss, S.R.B. (13 July 2016). "Testimony from Susan R.B. Weiss, Ph.D. on The State of the Science on the Therapeutic Potential of Marijuana and Cannabinoids before Judiciary Committee". ASL Testimony. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asl/testimony/2016-09/the-state-of-the-science-on-the-therapeutic-potential-of-marijuana-and-cannabinoids/index.html. Retrieved 25 January 2017. 
  24. Joseph, A. (10 August 2016). "DEA decision keeps major restrictions in place on marijuana research". STAT. Boston Globe Media. https://www.statnews.com/2016/08/10/marijuana-medical-research-dea/. Retrieved 25 January 2017. 
  25. Rudroff, T. (21 January 2017). "Marijuana Regulation Blocks Vital Multiple Sclerosis Research". Newsweek. IBT Media, Inc. http://www.newsweek.com/marijuana-regulation-blocks-vital-ms-research-544886. Retrieved 25 January 2017.