A recently published analysis of smokable hemp products by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found that the vast majority of samples\u2013about 93 percent\u2014contained more than 0.3 percent THC, meaning they in fact qualified as federally illegal marijuana.<\/p>\n
Under the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp nationwide, cannabis products must contain less than 0.3 percent THC in order to be defined as hemp. Those with higher THC levels remain federally prohibited as a Schedule I controlled substance. The distinction is especially important, the report says, in determining whether cannabis seized by law enforcement is legal hemp or forbidden marijuana.<\/p>\n
In the new study, researchers at NIST\u2014an arm of the Commerce Department\u2014and the State University of New York (SUNY) Albany analyzed 53 smokable hemp products from five commercial manufacturers for a variety of cannabinoids, including delta-8 THC, delta-9 THC, THC-A and total delta-9 THC. The manufacturers and product names are not included in the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver 90% of the samples analyzed by NIST were determined to have a total total \u03949-THC mass fraction above 0.3 % even though samples were being marketed as hemp,\u201d says the report, published last month in the journal Forensic Chemistry. \u201cSurprisingly, often the associated online documentation reported total \u03949-THC mass fractions of \u22650.3 %.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll samples were sold as smokable hemp with \u03949-THC levels less than or equal to the federal limit of 0.3 %,\u201d the study, which was funded by the Department of Justice\u2019s National Institute of Justice, says. \u201cHowever, the LC-PDA measurements at NIST indicated that \u224893 % of the samples were above the 0.3 % federal limit. Nearly half of the online documents provided by the manufacturers differed from corresponding product labels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Direct comparison of NIST results to online documentation provided by manufacturers of 22 samples found that levels \u201cdiffered by \u224855 % for total \u03949-THC, \u224868 % for THCA, and \u224818 % for \u03949-THC.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPoor agreement,\u201d the study suggests, could be due to differences in testing methods, the \u201cinhomogeneity\u201d of samples themselves leading to varied testing outcomes, batch-to-batch variability, storage conditions \u201cand\/or product labels or online documentation that are not representative of actual products.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the 2018 Farm Bill, the report notes, the cultivation and manufacture of hemp has boomed. A 2021 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated hemp production in the country to be valued at $824 million, with roughly 76 percent of all hemp production being \u201cfloral hemp,\u201d which includes smokable hemp. Such products are largely unregulated, often available online or in smoke shops or convenience stores and sold regardless of the buyer\u2019s age.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, with a quantitative limit [on delta-9 THC], method accuracy is of paramount importance since legal actions are based on the resulting measurements,\u201d the new study says.<\/p>\n
As highlighted in the National Institute of Justice\u2019s post<\/a> on the new study, NIST researchers used \u201can established liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection (LC-PDA) method using a methanol extraction procedure\u201d to arrive at the results.<\/p>\n Researchers took between 10 grams and 20 grams of each plant sample and ground it in a \u201csmall portable Magic Bullet grinder in four or five separate 5 s pulses to represent similar procedures forensic laboratories have been using to measure total \u03949-THC in seized cannabis plant samples.\u201d The mixture was then extracted using a conventional method \u201cwhich included a modification of using MeOH (methanol) instead of ethanol in the original method.\u201d After further processing, cannabinoid measurements were taken.<\/p>\n The findings showed notable departures from manufacturer-provided THC levels. \u201cThe NIST-determined and manufacturer mass fractions\u201d the report says, \u201cwere significantly different for most samples.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese studies demonstrate the need for accurate analytical measurements, batch homogeneity measurements, appropriate long-term storage conditions, and updated product information,\u201d wrote the five-author team. \u201cThese results also highlight the need for reference materials in the cannabis industry to establish measurement accuracy.\u201d<\/p>\n One indication that storage conditions could play a role is that \u201cNIST values were generally higher for \u03949-THC and lower for THCA,\u201d the study<\/a> says \u201cindicating decarboxylation of THCA and conversion to \u03949-THC with aging.\u201d The same chemical conversion happens when heating cannabis, such as through smoking.<\/p>\n Federally funded research published earlier this year identified two new methods of distinguishing marijuana and hemp by more precisely determining THC content<\/a> in cannabis flower and edibles. The aim of the initiatives was to streamline the testing process to help resolve crime lab backlogs that have increased since hemp legalization, complicating cannabis-related cases.<\/p>\n The LC-PDA method used in the latest study was not one of those two procedures. Researchers noted that their process \u201cseparates 11 cannabinoids in less than 10 min.\u201d<\/p>\n NIST\u2019s separate gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method has already led to the creation of new standard operating procedures for labs, and the results have been incorporated into training practices for the Montgomery County Police Department and Maryland State Police.<\/p>\n U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) also put out a solicitation in 2022, seeking\u00a0portable marijuana analyzers to quickly identify cannabinoid profiles<\/a>\u00a0and help distinguish between marijuana and hemp.<\/p>\n The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) separately announced in 2019 that it was seeking a device to\u00a0\u201cprovide specificity to distinguish between hemp and marijuana\u201d<\/a>\u00a0since the former crop was legalized.<\/p>\n The complications resulting from hemp legalization became especially apparent in Texas, where marijuana possession arrests fell almost 30 percent from 2018 to 2019 following the state-level legalization of the non-intoxicating cannabis crop. Prosecutors in the state\u00a0dismissed hundreds of low-level cannabis cases<\/a>\u00a0since hemp was legalized. And officials announced in 2020 that labs\u00a0wouldn\u2019t be performing testing in misdemeanor cases<\/a>, with the Department of Public Safety saying it \u201cwill not have the capacity to accept those.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, hemp industry stakeholders and agriculture officials across the U.S. are urging Congress to\u00a0triple the THC limit for the crop to one percent by dry weight<\/a>. A Justice Department researcher recently questioned the rationale for the current 0.3 percent THC limit, which she said\u00a0seemed to be based arbitrarily on a decades-old anecdote<\/a>.<\/p>\n USDA last month announced a new hemp \u201croadmap,\u201d which includes a call for a public\u2013private hemp consortium<\/a> to streamline research into hemp products, and the agency also recently approved a new genetically modified version of hemp that does not produce THC or CBD but is designed to have higher levels of the cannabinoid CBG. It\u2019s at least the second type of genetically modified hemp to get the OK after another modified plant, which produces lower levels of THC and CBC<\/a>, was approved in October.<\/p>\n At the state level, meanwhile, observers have regularly found<\/a> evidence<\/a> of so-called lab-shopping by cannabis product manufacturers, wherein producers choose testing labs that provide more desirable results, such as inflated THC values for adult-use marijuana products, which buyers often choose based on perceived potency.<\/p>\n A study published last month found that Colorado marijuana products often overstate THC levels, with 70 percent of product labels reporting \u201cpercentages more than 15 percent higher<\/a> than what was quantified through the lab.\u201d<\/p>\n CBD\u2019s Potential To Treat Pain, Cancer, Schizophrenia, COVID And Other Conditions Highlighted In New Scientific Review<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of National Institute of Standards and Technology<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post More Than 90% Of Smokable Hemp Samples Analyzed By Researchers Contained Illegal Amounts Of THC, New Federal Study Finds<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A recently published analysis of smokable hemp products by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found that the vast majority of samples\u2013about 93 percent\u2014contained more than 0.3 percent THC, meaning they in fact qualified as federally illegal marijuana. Under the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hempContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,15462],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73864"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73865,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73864\/revisions\/73865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: More Than 90% Of Smokable Hemp Samples Analyzed By Researchers Contained Illegal Amounts Of THC, New Federal Study Finds<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"