Cannabis and Microbial Pathogens: Recreational, Medical or Hemp, are we doing enough?

In the last two years there have been several high-profile illnesses in cannabis users, notably the e-cigarette, or vaping, product-use associated lung injury (EVALI), and heavy metal poisoning in California and Michigan. While these are undeniably deserving of attention, they have led to a focus on chemical contaminants and causes of illness, rather than microbial ones. With an estimated combined market of over $10B in retail sales this year, it’s not a matter of if, but when will the cannabis industry have its first major microbial or food-borne outbreak and product recall. Are we as an industry doing enough to catch it before it happens? Are we even looking for the right things? If processors and growers are already complaining about high testing costs and being shut down by state governments for selling products that have failed previous testing, how do we convince the industry to embrace new testing requirements?

Josh Smith, CEO & Chief Scientist at Premium CBD Labs presented his talk back in April at the Analytical Cannabis Online Expo 2020.