Doctors, Regulators Demand Consistency in Medical Marijuana

There is a reason we have a regulator in almost every field today. The aim is to make sure that the products or service delivery remains of high quality and consistent at all times. It seems like no one is getting contact high from the pungent smell of marijuana grown by the Vireo Health growing facility.

If you have used marijuana before, then you know how important the tetrahydrocannabinol or THC component is important. The other important compound is tetrahydrocannabinolic acid or THCA. Normally these compounds would be active if the marijuana is heated and thus end up causing an effect such as getting high.

The same thing applies to the cannabidiol or CBD as known among many people. This is the medicinal substance found in marijuana. The work of the CBD is to work the opposite way that the THC makes a smoker feel.

Vireo is one of the companies that has been licensed to grow marijuana in Pennsylvania. It has set up its growing facility in Scranton which offers four varieties of the medical marijuana needed for treatment of various ailments. These varieties have alternating ratios of CBD and THC. They are named as red, green, yellow, and indigo. So depending on the strain, you get it having different THC and CBD levels tweaked to offer different effects to the bodies.

Inconsistences experienced

These marijuana strains are being used to treat various ailments, you can see why having a consistent product would come in handy. The doctors prescribing the medical marijuana to patients expect that medical marijuana should remain consistent like any other drug. The regulators also have the same view so that each marijuana strain will offer the same results. Since the marijuana is coming straight from the plants and not created in a lab, it is possible to always end up with some inconsistencies.

To help with controlling the inconsistencies, the biologists have to be involved. The process starts from how the plant is grown. This makes sure that the plants are exposed to the same conditions with the expectation that the final plant would be consistent as per the required standards.

Vireo’s growing facility in Scranton has a “mother room” where the plants are grown for the sole purpose of providing the clippings needed for the clones. The plants in the mother room to be labeled clearly such as green or indigo so that the growers can know what they are dealing with. The growers will also know the various THC and CBD levels once there are clear labels on the strains.

Growing under the right conditions

It is crucial that the plants are exposed to the right growing conditions so that the consistency in the important compounds does not change. When these plants start to mature and flower, there is the need to expose them to the right high-intensity and also absolute darkness.

It is possible that most people might realize what happens to the plant when the lights are switched off. It is the biochemical composition that is affected. These are changes that are attributed to the changes in hormones with the changes in lighting and other growing conditions. Whenever you start messing with the lighting that the plant needs later, then you will be messing with the plant’s clock. The plant would be confused resulting in various differences later on.

If the plant cannot grow well, then it will not flower well.

Mostly in big companies that grow marijuana in greenhouses and other complex facilities, they will have specific people who control the lighting. They know when it is time to turn on or off the facility lights.

Once the buds or flowers have been harvested, they are then dried and processed into oil. What follows is a high-precision measure of THC and CBD levels in the strain. Since they are from different plants, a few differences are expected. There is need to find the one with the right purity needed for medical marijuana. It is only the strains that meet the necessary levels that are allowed to be sold to the patients.

The doctors would always want to have a consistent product. As a doctor, you do not want to recommend a drug to a patient expecting it to do one thing and it ends up doing the opposite.

Ann

Geez, there seem to be a lot of people named Ann who write marijuana blogs. Well, that’s my name too, and when I asked my mom why she decided to give me such a mundane label she explained that the name Ann meant God has favored me. My name took on a whole new significance and I no longer thought it boring. And God has favored me – he gave me the gift of the gab and he smiled his approval when I decided to move to San Francisco. I love this city, I love the people, and most of all I love writing about marijuana.

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