Legalizing Marijuana and The Role of Analytical Laboratory Testing

Abstract

The landscape around legalizing cannabis is still changing. States continue to legalize medical use and recreational use cannabis each year. The timeline for legalizing cannabis at the federal level is still unclear. To date federal banking laws have changed making it easier for state sanctioned cannabis businesses to obtain loans and there is support by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to declassify cannabis from a schedule 1 down to a schedule 3 drug. Even if cannabis is declassified by the DEA there is no guarantee that it will become federally legal. One thing that remains clear regardless of federal legalization of cannabis, the need for analytical testing laboratories is apparent and will continue to grow to ensure cannabis products are safe for use by the consumer. This is the passion of my work, setting up an analytical laboratory to test cannabis, hemp, and their derivatives to ensure that they are safe for human consumption. This a huge task that requires a commitment to ethical science, tireless hours of experiments, method development and method validation. A robust quality management system that adheres to the State of California regulations and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 17025 standard is equally important to the laboratory analyses.

Year Manuscript Completed

Spring 2024

Senior Project Advisor

Dr. Tricia Jordan

Degree Awarded

Bachelor of Integrated Studies Degree

Field of Study

Natural Sciences

Document Type

Thesis

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