As officials from federal agriculture department are re-imposing regulations over the cannabis cultivation, the farmers and industry advocates are now alarmed. These regulations are to make sure that the level of THC in the cannabis cultivated is the US remains at 0.3%. The US Department of Agriculture issued a notice under which it was announced that laboratories will now need to have a Drug Enforcement Agency registration in order to be eligible to test THC levels in Cannabis.
Experts in Cannabis industry believe that these types of limitations can slow down the pace of the industry and can bottleneck both the production as well as distribution. The problem with remote or rural areas will be even worse due to lack of facilities in those areas.
Shaun Hauser, who is a Cannabis Attorney, said that most of the DEA labs don’t have enough equipments, capacity and infrastructure to keep up with the production, which will ultimately slow down the growth of cannabis industry for the foreseeable future.
The rules that are going to be imposed have a clause that will allow laboratories to register for THC testing and if they are approved by the Drug enforcement Agency, they will be allowed to do the testing. Apart from registration with DEA, these labs will also require an ISO certification.
USDA can also allow certain labs for testing THC if they perform to a certain quality and have got an ISO certification.
It is believed that this new alternate line of testing protocols will allow USDA to have a complete oversight of all the labs that are involved in THC testing and will allow them to ensure the quality and better control procedures.
Hauser also said that USDA is inquiring people and asking experts about the requirements in library and may have to change various aspects related to this issue in the upcoming months. Also, the list of DEA registered labs will be published on the Domestic hemp production website of the USDA.