Pubdate: Tue, 10 Jun 2014
Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Copyright: 2014 The Trentonian
Contact:  http://www.trentonian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006
Note: The Seattle Times
Page: A15

POT PATIENTS DON'T ALWAYS KNOW WHAT THEY'RE GETTING

SEATTLE - Jessica Tonani, a Seattle biotech executive, has what she
calls a "broken stomach." Put politely, she doesn't digest food
properly, which can cause vomiting, nausea and severe weight loss.

She's had multiple surgeries, tried all the recommended treatments for
her disorder and sits twice weekly for intravenous infusions.

Tonani, 38, decided several years ago to try pot. And it has worked
for her, she said, especially strains low in the psychedelic chemical
THC and high in the non-psychoactive ingredient cannabidiol, known as
CBD.

As a medical marijuana patient, Tonani knows it can be hard to find
the rare strains that don't make you high - and it can be even harder
to get the same kind of pot consistently.

Testing shows that some marijuana strains are not what they purport to
be in name, chemical content and genetics. This is particularly
concerning for patients seeking pot low in intoxicants and high in
pain-relief or other therapeutic qualities.

One strain widely known for its highCBD and popular among medical
marijuana patients is called Harlequin. But when Tonani and a leading
Seattle pot-testing lab analyzed 22 samples of Harlequin from various
growers and dispensaries, five of them were high in THC and had
virtually noCBD, which means people trying to take medicine were just
getting high instead.

Misnaming and inconsistent chemical profiles are extremely common,
said Dr. Michelle Sexton, a naturopath, founder of PhytaLAB and an
adviser to the state Liquor Control Board.

This problem can be significant for patients who don't want to be
stoned while working or behind the wheel. It's even more so for
pediatric patients. "You don't want a 6-year-old with epilepsy being
put on a bus under the influence of a psychedelic chemical," Tonani
said.

And there's this irony: Recreational pot users will soon have greater
assurances about the safety and chemical content of the pot they buy
at retail stores in the state's new legal pot system than the
best-educated patients have in the largely unregulated medical system,
where testing and accurate labeling are not mandated for
dispensaries.

"It's completely backwards from what it should be," said Randy Oliver,
chief scientist at Analytical 360, the lab that collaborated with
Tonani's firm on the research.

Alison Holcomb, chief author of Initiative 502, which legalized adult
possession of marijuana, noted that I-502 is not - as many call it - a
recreational pot law. Its requirement that all products display THC
and CBD content is likely to make medical patients more informed.

"It creates a legal marijuana market. The requirements apply equally
to all marijuana that is being used, whatever the purpose of
consumption," said Holcomb, director of criminal justice for the ACLU
of Washington state.

There's still some mystery, due to a lack of scientific research,
about how certain chemicals in pot impact different people.

But there's enough evidence about the anticonvulsant qualities of CBD
that the federal government's only pot-growing facility plans to
produce up to 600 kilos of high-CBD marijuana for study.

"The whole thing is just so loose and unregulated," said Dr. Mahmoud
ElSohly, director of the Marijuana Research Project at the University
of Mississippi, about medical marijuana in states such as Washington.
ElSohly's goal is to grow high-CBD pot, with a very consistent
chemical profile so it can be used in standardized research.

Since she's been using pot, Tonani said, friends, family and other
patients have queried her about what to use and where to get it. About
a year ago, she said, she really came to understand dramatic
differences in the quality of dispensaries and in marijuana called the
same name.

That led her to form Verda Bio, a company devoted to researching the
genetics and therapeutic uses of marijuana.

Tonani began collaborating with Analytical 360, which encourages
transparency in the industry by posting on its website the results of
all testing the lab has done on samples in the past 60 days.

She went out and bought five samples of Harlequin at Seattle-area
dispensaries. Four of the samples varied considerably in their potency
of THC and CBD. Even though they all had roughly a 2-to-1 ratio of CBD
to THC, their variations in potency would make consistent dosing
difficult. A fifth sample was radically different, with almost no CBD
and high THC.

Tonani's findings essentially matched an analysis by Analytical 360 of
17 samples called Harlequin it tested recently. Four of the samples
were nothing like Harlequin.

Further DNA tests by Tonani on two of the samples she acquired showed
that they were not even genetically similar.

Experts cite a number of reasons for such inconsistencies.

One may be the lack of testing standards for labs analyzing medical
marijuana, Sexton said. It's a problem addressed by I-502 rules, which
set requirements for accredited labs.
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MAP posted-by: Matt