Last week, Steep Hill announced they are expanding into Oregon with a laboratory in Portland. According to the press release, the company has licensed its testing technology to Dr. Carl Balog, a renowned pain and addiction physician. Steep Hill has expanded significantly over the past year, including new laboratories in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington D.C. and Hawaii, among other states. The …
Poland Legalizes Medical Cannabis
Poland has now legalized cannabis for medical purposes. That said, it will be some time before patients have access to the drug. While Poles can now technically access medical pot, the scheme approved by the Polish Parliament that went into effect on November 1st is regressive, to say the least. Certainly compared with even other countries in Europe that are …
Did ABCann Lose The German Cannabis Bid?
In rather shocking news out of Germany on the cannabis front, it appears that Canadian LP ABcann has not been selected as one of the finalists in the country’s first tender bid to cultivate cannabis domestically. As reported in the German press, the company has not been invited to submit an offer in the final award procedures. The reason per …
The Catalonian Crisis & Cannabis: The Quick Death Of A Newly Regulated Club Scene?
The politics of pot have always been strange. Everywhere. In the modern age of legalization, the battle lines around reform always seem to find expression in the faults if not flames of other highly divisive issues. It has certainly been true in the United States. And now that has come to Europe. Where Are The Spanish Fault Lines? The recent …
What Is Going On With Germany’s Cannabis Bid?
Germany is proceeding down the path to officially grow its own medical cannabis crops. Medical use became legal this year, along with a federal mandate for cheap access. That means that public health insurance companies, which cover 90% of Germans, are now firmly on the hook if not front line of the cannabis efficacy issue. As such, Germany’s medical market …
Ask The Expert: Exploring Cannabis Laboratory Accreditation Part 2
In the first part of this series, Michelle Bradac, senior accreditation officer at the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA), told us about the basics of laboratory accreditation, what it means and why it is such a cornerstone of product safety. In this next piece, we sit down with Roger Brauninger, A2LA Biosafety Program manager, to learn why states are …
Colorado To Begin Requiring Potency Testing For Medical Infused Products
After a delay due to their proficiency testing program roll out, the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) will now require all medical infused products and concentrates be tested for potency and homogeneity, starting November 1st, 2017. After November 1st, all production batches of concentrates from medical product manufacturers will need to have a potency test before being sold, transferred or …
On The Cusp of Revolution: 9th IACM Conference on Cannabinoids in Medicine
As cannabis conference backdrops go, Cologne (or Köln as it looks to the locals) has some major plusses. Cologne is a German city that has all sorts of both historical and cutting edge things to explore. Plus of course there is the timing. This part of the world just pre-Oktoberfest is a refreshing splash of multi-hued natural colors populated by …
PA Approves First Two Cannabis Labs
According to a PennLive article, Pennsylvania’s Department of Health approved the first two cannabis laboratories for their medical cannabis program. ACT Laboratories of Pennsylvania LLC and Keystone State Testing LLC are the companies that were approved to perform analytical testing for safety and quality in cannabis products. Both laboratories expect to be operational before the end of 2017, according to …
Ask The Expert: Exploring Cannabis Laboratory Accreditation Part 1
Laboratories throughout the world and in a variety of industries get accredited to demonstrate their competency. In the cannabis industry, some states are beginning to require it and many labs get accredited even if their state doesn’t require it. So what does accreditation mean and why is it so important? The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a standard-setting organization …