CD Social V. I. Am. Not. Your. Foot.

[w01fg4ng]

Feeling so good today. Loving life.

 

[The Network]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm3pfJOhRwH/?taken-by=columbolabs

interesting discussion on cannabis testing and cannabis lab standards if anyone is interested. Read through the comment section on this post by columbo labs.

thanks for the link, I'm very interested in knowing how the testing works because it's pretty shady considering how relatively heavily regulated legal weed. Almost no one knows how testing is done right now and I don't think most legal markets have specific laws/standards for testing.

Feeling so good today. Loving life.

I'm not quite to loving life but I feel a lot better today than I did yesterday.

 

[w01fg4ng]

.

 

[Mafioso]

There are a couple of different methods used. I know chromatography is one of the more common ones. If you read through the top comments they highlight the biggest current problems, which is poor/lack of standards. It's not just the labs, but the sample selection process and chain of custody. Currently producers are allowed to cherry pick samples from a batch and there is no sample-batch chain of custody process to prove that the samples were randomly taken from the batch, and the batch remained untampered with from time of testing to time of retail sale. People have proven this by selecting particular grades from a batch and sending them in for independent testing(i.e. choosing the best looking, worst looking, and then average). Results varied as much as 40% for the same batch.

Then there is the problem of these advanced HPLC machines that use complex software and need to be calibrated to a high degree of accuracy. Reference standards is also a reason for fluctuations from the same batch sample between different labs. Then there is room for human error in the lab technicians as well. Just recently someone got called out for having distillate that tested at less than 3% thc at an independent lab. Later the lab called them back and said that the 2% was a mistake- it was only ~2% d9thc, but it showed a mystery isomer hitting ~90%- likely another isomer of thc like d8 or d10. These labs are also often inundated and charge very little making it cost prohibitive to double check.

There's also the problem with "undectables" with all lab screening. Most methods will only detect the presence or absence of things they are testing for. So if they are not testing for it then they likely won't know it is there. It's one of the ways athletes can use steroids and still pass a drug test- they find steroids that they aren't currently testing for. The same way people can pass a drug test while using synthetic cannabinoids, producers can be using plant growth regulators(pgr's), herbicide, pesticides, and other chemicals that can be harmful and still pass a test. Not all producers do, but there are certainly some. Connected is currently the subject of a lot of controversy for supposedly using chlormequat, a pgr not tested for.

Other countries like Isreal are far more advanced in this area. Accurate testing is certainly possible but is currently a ways off. Legalization/recreation has been a step forward compared to medical, but reports of bad practice, malpractice and even corruption has been reported in every state.

There is definitely clean product out there and brands that honor their word and take pride in honest work, but there are definitely a lot of sharks, uneducated, unexperienced, greedy, and people who don't care. The market attracts all kinds but in particular, people looking to get rich often by any means. Much different than any other kind of farming.

Even with federal oversight like the FDA it's still good to have a healthy amount of doubt. The recent lawsuit against Monsanto for their product roundup(glysophate) being proven to cause cancer. There is only so much we can do, I know money is a big obstacle for most. I just think when it comes to something we are inhaling we should be a little more concerned. Side effects from smoking PGRs are pretty nasty.

 

[w01fg4ng]

what's up maf?

 

[Mafioso]

Just been chillin since I finished up my last class at the junior college. Got to start my 58 days of community service so trying to get in as much day smoking as possible. I want to take another long break from cannabis after this week as well. Too poor now that I don't grow or move anything.

You said you moved out of Colorado?

 

[w01fg4ng]

Well, good luck.


Yeah, I moved. 40% error is something I never experienced.

 

[Mafioso]

did you send stuff in to be tested?

 

[w01fg4ng]

did you?

 

[ShroomySatori]

If you smoke after you work out, you get high as fuck. You can also take heavier tokes than usual.

 

[Mafioso]

did you?

I've had stuff tested but this wasn't about my personal test results. This was about someone who had observed a 40% variation in test results from the same lab with samples from the same batch. The samples were selected in different grades which was most likely to account for the variation.

 

[The Network]

Since I'm involuntarily (although I wanted to do one voluntarily soon anyway) taking a break for over a week I went really hard last night seeking a unique experience. It was definitely fun but not psychedelic at all like I was hoping it might be. Probably because I was in a brightly lit room. Tends to overpower and subtle CEVs.

I've had stuff tested but this wasn't about my personal test results. This was about someone who had observed a 40% variation in test results from the same lab with samples from the same batch. The samples were selected in different grades which was most likely to account for the variation.

lol I always figured that different parts of different batches could be very different in potency/terpenes/etc. It's a plant. Does every orange you buy at the grocery store taste exactly the same? No, if you eat say 3 in a row and pay attention odds are they all taste a bit different, for example. Even when you buy local fruit so it's more likely that they've come from the same tree (less machine processing so less likely to be separated) they still vary a bit.

 

[w01fg4ng]

I've had stuff tested but this wasn't about my personal test results. This was about someone who had observed a 40% variation in test results from the same lab with samples from the same batch. The samples were selected in different grades which was most likely to account for the variation.

If you need a lab to tell you that your shit is 40% less or more potent, then you got bigger problems.

 

[ShroomySatori]

If it's a cloned strain and even then due to varying growing conditions in the same room and plant for each bud there would be differences. I'm sure we'd all prefer colas to popcorn buds, it would be easy to skew the results without breaking any rules. I don't know much about it yet but it's an industry I am looking at since we are just legalizing.

So I've seen some progress cutting back. I have been smoking habitually since September. Way too much, like going through a pack of papes every few days. It has actually kind of been a struggle but I'm waking up and not reaching for the bong now. Smoking a third or quarter of what I used to per day, and getting higher for longer. Soon enough I'll probably be able to skip days. I'll kill a gram in my bong in like 10min, just feel normal and it's totally not worth it. Got to that point where, it is never enough because my tolerance got so high I couldn't get high anymore. It drops so fast and is so easy to cut back I feel stupid for not using weed like this earlier as I wasted so much money and damn good herb chasing the high. I'm starting to wake up thinking wtf you used to compulsively reach for the bong every time, take 5 hits instead of the promised one and now you have a choice it's nice!

 

[w01fg4ng]

Just a heads up, all the GOOD industry jobs frown upon being a pot head. It's still stigmatized and in some cases can be argued as racist the way the industry is run. The world has many problems. Legal weed solves some pretty damn good ones though.

I stopped using a bong and my use/tolerance plummeted with ease. A bong is to a small bowl as a dab is to a pen.

 

[Jibult]

Just a heads up, all the GOOD industry jobs frown upon being a pot head. It's still stigmatized and in some cases can be argued as racist the way the industry is run. The world has many problems. Legal weed solves some pretty damn good ones though.

I stopped using a bong and my use/tolerance plummeted with ease. A bong is to a small bowl as a dab is to a pen.

I don't think I'll ever give up my bubblers. Weed smoke's just not the same for me if it hasn't bubbled up through some water.

 

[ShroomySatori]

I wouldn't have expected that. I am skilled technically, had to take time off work for a while due to chronic illness and am scripted pot now ready to work. I don't know if it's the same up north I've never been drug tested for employment ever, few people seem to care about weed.

I started using a bong again and even though I was smoking so many joints a day, little pinch would wreck me at first. My favourite way to smoke pot is a heavy bong toke like .2 or .3 grams and then spread the hits out by longer periods of time. I love everything about ripping bong so long as the bong is being kept reasonably clean and water changed (pet peeve). That way I get really stoned fast and won't want a second toke until way later.

If I had the money I'd smoke a blunt at the end of the day for sure though, just lazing in bed or whatever. Gone from an eighth a day to less than a gram a day now and hopefully this keeps up since I just woke up with an appetite and had a good rest without being stoned this morning yet.

Man, a bubbler is a good idea for me. I need something more portable than my bong if I'm heading out for a while and a pipe or joint doesn't cut it for me.

 

[w01fg4ng]

Shroomi, MMJ is a different beast for sure. It makes things a lot more complicated to an already difficult situation. I do have faith that things are getting better over time concerning these issues, however.

Jib, not having a good connect has been a strong motivator for me to conserve. On the plus side, my clean up and prep time has dramatically reduced. I don't miss pouring out that damn water everyday either lol.

 

[Jibult]

Man, a bubbler is a good idea for me. I need something more portable than my bong if I'm heading out for a while and a pipe or joint doesn't cut it for me.

Something like this maybe? (NSFW for size):

NSFW:

I'll post a link to that in your PMs, just in case it piques your interest.

Jib, not having a good connect has been a strong motivator for me to conserve. On the plus side, my clean up and prep time has dramatically reduced. I don't miss pouring out that damn water everyday either lol.

I hear that! All too often I find myself waiting until the water's yellow and has ashes all through it before I go to change it, and then wonder where the hell that bronchitis came from when I get sick as a dog a week or two later.

I just hate dry hits through a pipe, metal especially. It's too damn hot compared to something that's been cooled and filtered with water. Strangely enough, though, I love joints and blunts but absolutely can't stand them when you rig 'em to a bong. Tastes like complete shit, imo.

 

[The Network]

If you need a lab to tell you that your shit is 40% less or more potent, then you got bigger problems.

Yeah dispensaries are totally all about giving out free samples to advertise potency and it's not totally a huge crime in pretty much every legal state for them to give away weed. How exactly do you think we're going to test potency before buying?