Testing Cannabis Plants Potency

Testing Cannabis Plants Potency

Professor DeBacco


Potency Trends


Research Article
Nie, B., Henion, J., & Ryona, I. (2019). The role of mass spectrometry in the cannabis industry. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 30(5), 719-730.
https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...

Structures of 5 Cannabinoids
In cannabis “potency” typically refers to the percentage of THC and or CBD (cannabidiol) in the plant material.
However, at least three other cannabinoids are routinely monitored including…
THCA (delta-9-tetrahydrocannbinolic) acid
CBDA (cannabidiolic acid)
CBN (cannabinol).



Companies offer many tests
While the main interest is typically cannabinoids and terpenes remember the contaminate testing is required and the product needs to pass all categories.

Sample Size Varies
Depending on what end product is being tested will require different minimum sample.
Keep in-mind that the number of tests performed should correlate with the total lot size. For example while 2g of plant material is required if you are harvesting 10 vs 1,000 plants there should be a different number of samples even though each sample only requires the 2g.
Waters/Drinks: 60 mL OR provide a full finished product for determining fill weight on analytical scale
Plant material: 2 grams
Concentrates: 1 gram
Infused Products: 4 units

Testing Instruments
High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with Diode Array Detection allows us to run spectral analysis for confirmation of results.



Testing Compliance Standards
The testing laboratory should also meet
cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices)
GLP (Good Laboratory Practices) requirements
FDA-compliant Pharma practices



The Great Debate…
Should test results be expressed as a Number or a Range?



Cannabis Plants Potency Expressed as a Number
Advantages
Provides an exact number
Is a known with certainty
Disadvantages
Requires a homogenized product
Can not be done on dry flower being sold as part of a harvest lot



Cannabis Plants Potency Expressed as a Range
Advantages
Provides the expected range of potency to be expected
Can be performed on a lot of dry flower harvest
Disadvantages
Does not give a single fixed number due to variability.
Harder for regulatory agencies to handle as pharmaceutical grade materials have a number not a range.







Link to Lecture Slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VtC4...

*Due to the description character limit the full work cited for "Testing Cannabis Plants Potency" can be viewed at... https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ffen...