Cannabis Concerns in the Lab

January 11, 2020 | 4:20 pm | 316 | Cultivation

The presentation will cover three topics of interest:
1. Frequency of cannabis on the market that fails for pesticides residues, based on the Oregon list and on the most common pesticides found.
2. The actual amount of CBD found in typical THC strains of cannabis, how this is accurately determined, and how labs often get this wrong.
3. Byproducts formation that can ruin a distillation run and give unusually low potency results.

Ben will inform the audience how prevalent pesticides are in cannabis, and how banned pesticides such as myclobutanil are relatively common. He will educate attendees briefly on the cannabinoid production pathway, how this produces little CBD in THC strains, and why labs have been getting this wrong for so long. Lastly, Ben will educate processors on the common mistake of over-distilling THC, and how this can lower the potency of quality product.

sample headshot

Ben Hart, Senior Scientist/ President, Testing Technologies Inc

Ben Hart grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina, where he attended Western Carolina University and obtained both his Bachelors and Masters in chemistry. Post-graduation, Ben worked for three years in a forensic drug testing and pain management toxicology lab in Asheville, NC. During his tenure at Keystone Labs, Ben was instrumental in launching the pain management side of the business and was responsible for developing and validating LC/MS methods. Ben joined Testing Technologies at the beginning of 2016 as the President and Senior Scientist, and since then he has applied his wide range of skills to the cannabis testing industry.