Pubdate: Fri, 11 Sep 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Column: Highly Informed
Copyright: 2015 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: Scott Woodham

FOLLOW-UP: WHAT WOULD ALASKA'S PROPOSED CONCENTRATE POTENCY CAP MEAN 
FOR DABS, EDIBLES?

A few weeks ago, we considered whether cannabis concentrates would 
eventually become available to retail consumers in Alaska. But a 
reader identified some uncharted ground in that conversation. "Lady 
Marmalade" asks:

In discussing the possible future of concentrates, you didn't discuss 
the limit of less than 76 percent THC in the proposed regulations. 
What would that mean for dabs? Don't they use concentrates in making 
edibles? Does that mean that edibles would be lower quality? What 
would 76 percent mean to that process?

Proposed regulation 3 AAC 306.545(a), which in addition to making 
sure manufactured cannabis products and extracted concentrates 
require board approval, would set a cap on the THC content of concentrates:

3 AAC 306.545. Approval of concentrates and marijuana products. (a) A 
marijuana product manufacturing facility, including a marijuana 
extraction manufacturing facility, must obtain the board's approval 
for each product it manufactures and sells. The board will not 
approve any marijuana concentrate or product with THC potency equal 
to or greater than 76 percent.

If that number sounds oddly specific to anyone out there, they're not 
alone. The number was the subject of three nearly identical requests 
for clarification to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board after it 
released packet No. 3 of proposed marijuana regulations.

The board's online Q&A (which everyone who plans to formally comment 
on cannabis regulation in Alaska should check out before submitting 
feedback) explains that the cannabis concentrate limit took its cue 
from current state law (AS 4.16.110) limiting the percentage of 
alcohol to less than 76 percent by volume: "The determination of the 
legislature in Title 4 that alcoholic beverages above 76 percent 
alcohol by volume are too strong to be safely regulated is taken as 
instructive in the draft regulations."

That "too strong to be safely regulated" part may make some people 
think drawing a line of equivalence between high-proof alcohol and 
highly concentrated cannabis could pose a potential conflict with 
established Alaska case law. Courts have in the past determined that 
marijuana does not pose enough of a danger to public health for the 
Legislature to control it in a way that would limit constitutional 
guarantees of privacy in the home. But it could also be argued that 
the very pure concentrates available today were not part of those 
deliberations. That may be a discussion for another day.

Back to the questions at hand. Dabs, a process of smoking or 
vaporizing cannabis concentrates, generally uses the thicker and more 
refined forms of cannabis extracts, which end up with consistencies 
like granulated beeswax, paste, butter, putty and, at the higher end 
of purity scale, clear, hard products like shatter. They range from 
50 percent THC to 90 percent or more in extreme cases.

But when commercial extract producers talk about a product that's, 
say, 75 percent THC, they're talking about content by weight, not by 
volume as with alcohol. They're also talking about 25 percent 
something else. To edibles manufacturers, the percentage is 
immaterial compared to the actual content of THC or CBD, and what 
constitutes the remainder.

Depending on the process used and the quality of the plant products 
being fed into it, that 25 percent in the end product could be made 
up of other plant products like terpenes, a host of other 
cannabinols, even chlorophyll, waxes, oils and fats, many of which 
can degrade the quality of edibles. The percentage of THC extracted 
can't really be controlled during the extraction process itself, so 
labs are pretty much left with what they wind up with. And, generally 
speaking, the better the plant material that's used, the better the 
final extract.

Because THC content gets the most focus, there isn't as much 
attention paid to what else a concentrated product could contain. A 
concentrate could even include something that dilutes it to control 
the texture or potency, in the case of some oils intended to flow 
easily in vape pens.

Hypothetically, under the current draft proposal, if an Alaska 
company intends to manufacture dabbing concentrate, but it winds up 
at 76 percent or higher, to receive approval, it's plausible that 
dilution would figure in. Because no business would want to waste an 
entire run of concentrate just because it's too potent. So, it 
appears that the cap would take manufacturing the very purest kinds 
of dabbing concentrates out of play. But the concentrates used in 
edibles manufacturing are treated differently, and the process would 
likely see a smaller, although still perceptible, effect.

For people trying to control the number of milligrams of THC in each 
cookie in a batch of dozens, for example, the percentage strength of 
a concentrated bulk oil is less important because with edibles, 
making sure the formulation is consistent is key, and that takes 
knowing the raw number of milligrams.

"If the oil has other plant matter and other flavor profiles, that 
can affect the flavor, so really we try to stay between 65-75 percent 
THC," said Joe Hodas, chief marketing officer of Colorado-based Dixie 
Brands, which manufactures a range of edible products and licenses 
its products for manufacture and sale in other states. "From our 
perspective, a milligram of THC is a milligram no matter what."

Hodas said that his company uses a kind of waste plant matter called 
trim and a CO2 extraction process to make its oils for infusion into 
a range of edible products. Edible consumers prefer flavors and 
textures to be a certain way (e.g.: not a beverage that tastes like a 
mouthful of grass), and a lower-percentage extract can affect 
quality. "Sometimes when we have lower quality trim, it's a lot 
waxier," said Hodas.

Thomas St. Thomas, co-founder of Mad Hatter Coffee and Tea, a maker 
of infused beverages for medical and recreational use, said that to 
make his company's products, "we don't buy oil by weight, we buy it 
by content."

If all they have at hand is 75 percent oil, not the ideal maximum of 
100, he said, then they'd have to make that 25 percent up by buying 
more oil to get the milligrams of THC they need to provide the 
dosages that consumers and patients need. The lower the quality of 
oil, the more plants, workforce, extraction processors and so on that 
it would take to make the same number of measured doses for their 
products, which creates inefficiency and added cost. Percentage by 
weight is irrelevant in other words. Weight itself is key.

The formula that concerns edibles manufacturers like St. Thomas is 
simple, said Dax Colwell: A gram of extract oil tested at 75 percent 
THC would contain 750 milligrams of THC, or 75 10-milligram doses. 
 From there, a manufacturer can adjust a formulation for edibles to 
meet regulations and consumer preferences.

Colwell co-owns of New Leaf Enterprises, a Washington state company 
that grows and extracts THC and CBD oils and other products for 
wholesale to dispensaries and edibles manufacturers under the label 
dama Cannabis Products. He says that concentrates sold for dabbing 
generally range between 60 and 80 percent THC by weight, and are 
usually the result of a hydrocarbon-based process. But his company 
sells THC by the milligram to its wholesale edible manufacturing 
customers, not by percentages. Colwell says his products come from an 
alcohol extraction method, which removes many of the plant extracts 
that could give unwanted flavors and textures to a final edible product.

The effects of lower THC content oils on industrial processes is a 
numbers game, and somewhat known because of the experiences of 
companies in other states, but any unexpected or unintended effects 
the cap might mean for Alaska's potential market or overall edibles 
industry is speculation. One guess is a potential effect on wholesale 
growers, or on vertically integrated businesses that seek to control 
their products from seed to brownie, so to speak. Since the higher 
the quality of the starting plant material is, the more efficient an 
extraction process will be, there may be selective pressure on 
growers to not produce the highest potency raw material for 
extraction because it would just result in having to dilute 
concentrates before seeking approval. Dilution of dabbable 
concentrates could have a negative effect on consumer perception. And 
adding to pressure against producing the highest quality plant 
material might have other effects on the ability of the market to 
satisfy consumer safety or demand. But who knows, it also may help 
provide an avenue to dispose of flowers that don't make the cut for 
consumers, who would still presumably demand quality.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom