Harborside Health Center is pleased to announce it has begun laboratory analysis of its medical cannabis products. This effort has been developed in partnership with the Analytical Laboratory Project, which owns and operates the laboratory facility. All medicinal cannabis products accepted for distribution to Harborside Health Center will be lab tested for safety and potency. For the first time in the 3000-year history of human cannabis consumption, consumers will be provided a scientific assessment of the safety and potency of products prior to ingesting them.

Testing has begun with cannabis flowers and concentrates, and later will include edibles, tinctures, capsules, etc. The testing techniques include gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, gas chromatography/flame ionization detection, and plate culture analysis. Over the course of the past year, the lab has developed its analytical methods in partnership with respected bio-chemists from some of the Bay Area's most prestigious institutions.

The testing program has two main components: safety screening and potency quantification. Safety screening analyzes and detects contamination of pathogenic molds, which can threaten the health of patients with compromised immune systems. Potency quantification provides the percentages of three major cannabinoids: THC, CBD, and CBN. Later stages of the program will include the use of patient surveys to develop a comprehensive database of the efficacy of medical cannabis.

Harborside Health Center patients are able to access the testing results in three ways: labels in display cases, labels on products, and a book of complete test results. Labels include percentages for THC, CBD, and CBN; and are posted in medicine display cases, as well as affixed to the products themselves. A book containing complete spectrometry reports for each product is available at the service counter for those patients who desire more detailed analytical results. Testing services commenced with an initial launch period to identify and develop the logistics of sample collection and result identification. After these issues are fully addressed, the testing service will be made widely available to other medical cannabis collectives, and individual patients. These services will include an independent certification component, so patients can be assured that the medicine they are purchasing has been tested.