0: Many people buy marijuana based on the THC content and a lot of
buyers just associate a higher THC content with, uh, greater value.
So what that's done in Arizona is created competition among the labs that have
to test marijuana before it's sold to produce a higher THC value for
each product, which then allows the growers to sell it for more.
So I got a tip that there was a grower labeling its marijuana with a higher
THC than is allowed by state rules. Uh,
the grower is Mojave Cannabis and what they're doing is they're getting lab
reports from Green Scientific and Phoenix that lists two different THC
concentrations.
A lab report from Green Scientific is showing a total THC of
25.684%.
But you'll notice there's a footnote if we read the footnote.
It says that the reported value is a dry weight.
There is nothing in Arizona State rules that allow for a dry weight to be listed
as the THC potency. If we go to the second page,
we see that Green Scientific provides growers with different numbers.
It provides an actual percentage,
which is 21.87 lower than the dry weight percentage of
25.684. So all marijuana in Arizona has to be tested before it's sold,
but consumers, if they want, can also take, uh,
cannabis to an independent lab and have it tested for themselves.
We told the lab that we were gonna bring them an unmarked sample and that we
wanted a potency test. We didn't tell them anything else,
including who grew the cannabis and what the
initial test results had showed. Just,
uh, potency. Potency.
2: Perfect. So just the first box right there.
0: Okay, perfect.
1: So when we receive the sample, we batch it according to, uh,
matrix type and analyses. Um, so for this one it was potency only.
So once we batch, we do a verification process.
Once we determine that's correct,
we then go through homogenization process using the liquid nitrogen.
So we freeze everything up to, um, homogenize everything together.
So it's more of a representation of the full sample. Um,
once everything is homogenized, then we go through extraction. Um,
so we will weigh it out according to our SOPs and work instructions that we've
made. And then once it's weighed out, we will spike it, um,
making sure that our batch QC is good so that when it runs,
it shows that we have quality controls for our samples in our instruments as
well as technicians.
And then once it goes through Sonic case and genome grinding,
which is just mixing up the, uh, sample even more,
making it more of a mixed product, uh,
we then bio it and then it goes on the instrument.
0: We took our sample to an independent laboratory.
We got to be there while they conducted some of the work testing for potency.
And then after two scientists reviewed the results, they emailed them to us.
Those results showed that this marijuana had a potency of about 19%.
The label on this marijuana indicated it had more than 25% THC content.
The difference in potency between what was on the label and what our tests
showed is greater than what the State Health Department allows.
We took this sample of marijuana for a subsequent test at a different lab,
and it also showed the potency to be less than what was on the label,
though not by as much. However,
the difference did allow Mojave to sell this cannabis for a higher price than
normally it would've commanded at the actual potency.
Mojave told us that using the dry weight potency was an oversight and they would
no longer be doing that. We also found another dispensary,
Sunday Goods and Temp B labeling its products with dry weight potencies from
Green Scientific as.