[ 29 guides ]
Technical guides to cannabis laboratory testing — potency, pesticides, heavy metals, mycotoxins, method validation, ISO 17025 accreditation and lab economics.
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I spent years running potency assays on edibles and watching batches fail not because the formulation was wrong but because the cannabinoids never mixed evenly. This article explains the sampling plan, the RSD math, what New Jersey's CRC actually requires, and what manufacturers can do before the sample ever reaches the lab.
I spent years watching growers argue with fail results they didn't understand. This article explains what water activity and moisture content actually measure, where the 0.65 aw limit comes from, what instrument the lab uses, and exactly how flower ends up failing — so you can prevent it.
I spent years running microbial panels on cannabis flower and concentrates, and the plating-vs-qPCR argument never gets old. This article breaks down total yeast and mold, Aspergillus species testing, AOAC SMPRs, state limits, and the dead-DNA problem that makes regulators and lab directors argue at every conference.
I spent years running ICP-MS in a licensed cannabis lab and watched heavy-metals failures blindside operators who thought soil was the only risk. This guide covers microwave digestion, the big-four analytes, how state limits actually differ, and where contamination hides in vape products.
I've run potency on flower all day, but the first time a cannabis beverage came through the door I realized the matrix changes almost everything — extraction, homogeneity sampling, particle size, pH, and stability all need rethinking. Here's what the bench actually looks like for infused beverages.
I spent four years on the bench running cannabis compliance panels, and hemp testing still trips up experienced chemists. This guide breaks down the USDA total THC rule, the decarboxylation maths, the DEA registration requirement, the 30-day sampling window, and what a hot crop actually means for your lab.
I pulled published price lists from licensed labs in New Jersey, Minnesota, and Oregon, plus Utah's state fee schedule, to show you exactly what each assay costs in 2026 — and why the same test can cost twice as much in one state as another.
I've read hundreds of COAs on the bench and watched growers squint at the numbers like they're reading a foreign language. This article walks through every section of a cannabis Certificate of Analysis — the total THC formula, LOQ, pass/fail columns, and accreditation marks — so you can actually use what you're looking at.
I spent four years running potency assays on everything from flower to fudge, and infused products always took longer and cost more. Here is exactly why — matrix effects, homogeneity requirements, and the extra sample prep no one explains — plus real prices from published lab menus.
I pulled every sourced number I could find from ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and Salary.com to build a real salary table by role — from sample-prep tech to lab manager. Here is what the data actually says, what drives the spread, and how to negotiate your next offer.
I've watched talented bench chemists get passed over because their résumé listed a cannabis badge but zero instrument hours. This guide maps every major university certificate, industry short course, and standards-aligned e-learning option — with real costs and lengths — so you can build a training path that actually gets you hired.
I spent four-plus years on the bench before anyone told me what opening a cannabis lab actually costs. This guide walks through state licensing requirements, ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation timelines, instrument capital expenditures by assay class, staffing minimums, and realistic runway — every number sourced.
I spent four years on the bench watching labs drown in spreadsheets and manual Metrc entry. This guide compares the LIMS platforms actually used in cannabis testing labs — named vendors, published pricing where available, Metrc integration depth, and what ISO/IEC 17025:2017 actually requires from your records software.
I spent time digging through state regulator license lists so you don't have to. This piece explains why there is no single national count, walks through what the official state-by-state lists actually show, and tells you exactly how to verify whether any lab you work with holds a current license and ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation.
I spent four-plus years running compliance assays on a bench, and the question I heard most from new techs was simple: which box does which test? This walkthrough covers every major instrument class in a cannabis testing lab — what it detects, why it was chosen for that assay, and the one mistake buyers keep making.
I spent four years running potency assays on a benchtop HPLC, and I still get asked whether a handheld NIR or a TLC spot kit can replace a lab result. Here is an honest breakdown of what each device class actually measures, where the published accuracy data land, and why none of them count as compliance tests.
I spent four years on the bench watching growers squint at invoices and ask why a flower panel costs $600. This article breaks down who is licensed to test cannabis, what analytes every compliance panel must cover, what real labs charge per test, and why a single national market-size number is harder to find than it looks.
I spent four years on the bench in licensed cannabis testing labs, and the number-one question I get is whether 'weed tester' is a real job. It is — but nobody is paying you to smoke. Here is what the actual roles look like, what instruments you will run, and how to get hired.
When you begin to explore how to become a cannabis lab technician, you start to quickly learn that the job entails much more than just testing THC levels. The cannabis industry is thriving and slowly gaining acceptance and approval across various nations. As the industry grows, a number of specialty jobs within the industry begin to unravel, that many qualified professionals may have not considered in the past. The cannabis lab technician roles are one of those specialty types of jobs.
In 1973 Oregon was the first U.S. member state that decriminalized cannabis. California, in 1996 became the first state to legalize the medical use of cannabis. In 2012 Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis. As of 2019, thirty-three states, four of the permanently inhabited U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia have legalized medical cannabis. Globally, cannabis is legalized in forty-four countries, with four countries legalizing recreational use of cannabis.
There have been over 100 different terpenes discovered so far and it seems every strain has a unique composition of them. Terpenes are produced inside structures called glandular trichomes, which also produce cannabinoids. These compounds are found in almost every plant and are responsible for the pleasant aromas that can be found in cannabis. The different terpene compositions in each strain are what give unique flavors, aromas, and colors to the cannabis plant. Environmental conditions such as the climate, fertilizer used, soil type, and the age of the plant can play a huge role in terpene development. For example, prior to aging, terpenes are mostly found in high concentrations in unfertilized female plants.
Cannabis testing cost per sample is about $322 at large labs and $750 at small ones. What edibles and potency testing cost, and why the price swings.
There is an increased demand for quality of Cannabis testing as the legalization of Cannabis storms through most to all of the United States and Canada. Unfortunately, as the rise in popularity of cannabis products continues over the years, the regulatory landscape has become substantially more difficult to navigate in the US.
Literally, “mycotoxin” means “fungus poisons”. Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites (a.k.a. by-products) produced during certain fungi and mold replication. These specific fungi or molds often colonize grains and forage, and unfortunately cannabis for reasons that will be discussed below. Mycotoxins contaminants have been around for a while and is not a new topic. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set a threshold of 0.02 micrograms per gram (20 ppb) for any products that are consumables for both animals and humans. Many studies have shown that mycotoxins can cause many types of illnesses in both animals and humans. Unfortunately, these compounds can be ridiculously stable for a long time and can sometimes even survive intense food processing. This being said, mycotoxins are heavily regulated in the food industry because of the potential toxicity, if and when consumed. So now…this directs us to the question on what and how the Cannabis industry is controlling this toxin?
Similar to other plants, cannabis plants are prone to diseases, pests, fungi, and bacterial infections. In order to maximize the cultivation yield of cannabis, today cannabis growers are using many techniques to repel and/or kill unwanted pests, which normally involve the application of different pesticides.
When it comes to analytical testing — validation is key. In order to be a licensed and accredited testing facility, a laboratory needs to fully validate all methodologies that will be used to quantify and report any value to the public. From Cannabis testing labs to Pharmaceutical facilities, validation of methods is a critical component that must be performed, maintained, amended, and inspected routinely.
The world of cannabis science is often shrouded in mystery and unlike other scientific industries where knowledge is shared — knowledge in the cannabis testing industry is protected — not shared. Well, I am here to help inform aspiring scientists around the world of this one fact — everything you need to know to set up and run a cannabinoids separation method for potency determination is within the public domain!
Over in the Potency department, it is the cannabis chemist's job to accurately determine the cannabinoid profile of any sample that enters the laboratory. Let’s break down how cannabis laboratories do this from beginning to end to help you understand the process
With the rapid growth in the production of inhalable cannabis products, many questions have been raised about the safety of acute and chronic exposure to aerosol mixtures of this kind. Heavy metals are chemical elements that are characterized by low biodegradability and by bioaccumulation in the human body can directly impact public health and wellness, particularly in the immunocompromised and pediatric patients, and these contaminants are needed to be minimalized in cannabis and cannabis-based products intended for human consumption.
