40 February / March 2018
Gas Chromatography: A Powerful Tool for Cannabinoid Analysis
by Andrew James, Marketing Director, Ellutia Ellutia Ltd, Colston House, 200 Lancaster Way Business Park, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB6 3NX
The rules and regulations in place within the whole cannabis industry supply chain, both in the US and across the EU, have resulted in a lack of rigorous cannabis testing as well as a lack of clarity on what testing is required. While a number of states have passed regulations that allow medicinal and/or recreational cannabis use, there are currently no standardised regulations between states or countries for quality control including content, composition, adulterants, potency or levels of toxic residues. In comparison to the pharmaceutical industry, where drugs must go through extensive quality control to meet a certain standard of safety, it is evident the cannabis industry has considerable challenges to undertake. There should be more robust systems in place to guarantee product quality in order to manufacture reliable and consistent products.
Introduction
The Netherlands has long been known for its liberal approach to cannabis and has become a major cannabis tourist destination, particularly in Amsterdam, where tourists can legally consume marijuana in coffee shops. However, the cannabis industry is constrained by a legal framework that makes it very difficult to find cannabis with tested cannabinoid and impurity content.
One particular company that has implemented GC testing and is reaping the benefits is Shamanics. This company is based in Amsterdam and extracts cannabis oil, in particular, it uses cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD), to produce high quality CBD oil. Shamanics conducts a number of key analyses on its products before they’re taken to market including cannabinoid profiling, terpene testing and soil analysis.
This article explains the industry challenges and what is required in order to provide tested, quality products to meet evolving customer requirements.
Upgrading the Cannabis Scene in the Netherlands
Shamanics was founded by Bart Roelfsema and Henjo Hielkema. Following the realisation of the poor-quality cannabis on the market, despite the high demand, Bart and Henjo wanted to sell tested, high-quality CBD oils and offer a testing service for coffee shops to help better
inform their customers. Appropriate testing isn’t commonplace in the Netherlands, the consumer interest is growing rapidly for properly tested products, particularly from coffee shops.
The variable quality and lack of tested cannabis available can largely be attributed to the regulation of the supply in the Netherlands. Whilst it is legal for the coffee shops to sell small amounts of cannabis, it is actually illegal for them to purchase or grow it in bulk. Therefore, the supply for the coffee shops is technically illegal meaning there is no consistent supply hence the large variation of quality. However, in February 2017, Dutch MPs voted to approve cannabis cultivation for the first time [1], a new law that would extend tolerance to growers as well as consumers. While it is not yet law and must also get majority support from the Senate, it is considered to be a historic breakthrough.
Similarly, the UK cannabis market has started to witness change. The possession and supply of cannabis is illegal in the UK, but there have been a number of cases where cannabis has been prescribed for medicinal use. One example of this is the drug, Sativex, which is the only one on the market that has THC as an active compound. It is possible to buy CBD oils from high street stores in the UK but these have usually been extracted from hemp rather than cannabis. The situation is very different in the US, where twenty-plus states have legalised cannabis for medicinal use. However, cannabis isn’t classified as a medicine as it
remains illegal under federal law, set at US government level. Subsequently, the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) has not approved the plant or plant extracts as a medicine. This is partially attributed to insufficient clinical trials being conducted to test cannabis use under strictly controlled conditions. Yet, Delta-THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in the L-Sativa plant has been an FDA-approved drug for over 25 years. This has helped influence the general opinion that cannabis itself could ultimately become be an FDA-regulated substance.
It is predicted that the cannabis market will continue to grow, as more countries and states join in the legalisation of cannabis. A recent report [2] suggested that medical marijuana sales will grow to $13.3 billion in 2020 and adult recreational sales are estimated to reach $11.2 billion by 2020.
The Need for Cannabis Analysis
One of the core issues with cannabis quality is the use of pesticides; the Netherlands Ministry of Environment and Health reported that over 90% of cannabis plants had pesticides on them [3]. Illegal producers of cannabis can supply cannabis unhindered with potentially harmful contaminants such as fungi or pesticide residues that are potentially threatening to health. In one particular case [4], state marijuana regulators recalled more than 50 varieties of medical marijuana, concentrates and edibles that had reportedly been grown with
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