Learning about parts per million

MN-OCM News

Transition guidance for Hemp-Derived THC

Good news: OCM announced a hemp-derived THC transition period through the end of 2025. This should ease the transition for hemp-derived retailers and manufacturers who will be going through licensing, as well as hemp-derived retailers transitioning to being cannabis retailers.

• Minnesota is transitioning out of the “temporary” statute governing hemp-derived THC products, creating many complex legal questions due to slight differences in the requirements between the statutes, especially as to requirements for packaging and labeling of these products. The current statute is Section 151.72, and the new statute is Section 342.

• In addition, MN will be licensing hemp-derived manufacturers, retailers, and wholesalers this fall. As the industry moves through that process, OCM’s guidance helps us understand where and when it will enforce the new standards- and when being in compliance with the old ones is sufficient.

Takeaways:

Retailers can sell currently-legal products, and also buy them from hemp-derived manufacturers, until 12/31/25. After that time, all products sold must have updated packaging and labeling in accordance with the new rules.

Manufacturers, on the other hand, have a hard reset at licensure. Once they receive a license (either as a cannabis or hemp business), “they must only produce and sell products compliant with chapter 342” (i.e., the NEW standards). Therefore, they should plan to sell all of their old product before their license is granted.

Note from Jen: I hope we get more clarity from OCM about how quickly to expect these licenses, once application is made. Otherwise they are forcing hemp-derived businesses to wind down operations for the transition for an indeterminate period of time. Alternatively, it might be advantageous to update packaging and labeling sooner than required in order to keep producing.

Read the full guidance here, including the links to Conversion Guides.

Event license applications open August 1

More info available at https://mn.gov/ocm/businesses/licensing/license-types.jsp

Testing standards

OCM published standards for testing, available here. Check out Jen’s article below more information about testing!

Lower-potency THC application window is October

Application window for lower-potency hemp edible retailers, manufacturers, and wholesalers will be open Oct. 1 - Oct. 31. In other words: if you want to continue to manufacture or sell hemp-derived THC products, you MUST apply for licensure in October.*

If you plan to apply, first step is to get your status in order so you are eligible for a smooth conversion. Businesses who are not currently registered should register each location here by August 31; you can also update your existing registration here if needed, by August 31. 

OCM says they will start taking enforcement action against unlicensed sellers of hemp-derived products who are not in the application process, after the close of the application period (i.e., on Nov. 1.)

*Clarification: If you already applied and are in process to switch lanes and be a cannabis retailer, and that’s how you will sell hemp-derived THC products, you do not need to apply in October.

Need help navigating these transitions? Let me know at [email protected].

Focus on Testing

Kudos to the Minnesota Craft Cannabis Guild for their continuing efforts to educate small entrepreneurs! Last Wednesday, July 2, I attended a terrific panel at Earl Giles all about testing in Minnesota.

Some of my takeaways:

• There is now a testing standards document which lays out what OCM will be testing for and what exact parts per million are the acceptable levels of contaminants in order for cannabis products to be sold in Minnesota by licensed retailers.

• No testing lab has, yet, gotten all the way to adult-use licensure. Legend Technical Services (represented on the panel by Taylor Schertler) is an active lab testing medical cannabis products. PhytoLabs (Casey Solomon, PhD was also on the panel) is a new lab. Both are working to be licensed by OCM soon, as are others.

• Testing uses a substantial amount of harvested product, even after OCM decreased the required amounts after industry pushback. Now, for flower, you’ll reserve a minimum sample size of 0.5% of the sample or 40 grams of flower, whichever is greater. (Meaning: if your sample is so small that 0.5% would be less than 40 grams, you still have to supply 40 grams for testing.) The panelists explained that this is because there are a whole set of tests to be run, each of which need their own bit of the sample.

• A sample that fails a test gets flagged for destruction or remediation.

  • Once failed, it cannot be repurposed or diluted. The OCM representative on the panel, Hannah Tims, said, “Dilution is not the solution to pollution.”

  • You can request that it be re-tested, and that re-test would use the SAME sample. If that passes, then you could send a new sample to a new testing facility. If that passes, you can go to market.

  • Sarah Schuette, the panel’s moderator, who is a soil scientist and experienced in California’s industry, noted that operators could use preliminary testing or breaking something into smaller batches if you think something might fail, to avoid the full batch getting flagged for destruction.

• I was impressed by Hannah Tims from OCM - her obvious passion and expertise for clear testing standards, willingness to educate small operators, and OCM’s position of flexible, principles-based rules to questions like what is valid remediation. That will allow them to responsive to new approaches and innovation by the industry.

• Getting to the lab: the panel agreed that licensed growers and manufacturers would need to hired a licensed cannabis transporter to send samples to a lab. Though a micro/mezzo can apply for a transporter endorsement, that only allows them to transport within their own locations (if they have more than one licensed location).

• Products “imported” into Minnesota (either adult-use flower grown by the tribes and hemp products from out of state) must get full-panel testing

• All testing information will be in Metrc, as the state’s seed-to-sale tracking system. Note from Jen: I’m hosting an Intro to Metrc webinar on Aug. 6 so we can all learn more about this complex system from someone who does it for a living.

• In Minnesota, the adult-use market will open with a safety check only now being considered in other states: MN-OCM will operate a State Reference Lab, which will test products around the industry. That’s in response to testing scandals where labs inflated THC percentages and allowed contaminated samples to get to market, including some actively unfolding in other states (below). OCM said there will be inspectors out in the field at all different types of licensees, and random samples around the industry will go to state reference lab for “validation.”

OTHER CANNABIS NEWS

Testing Scandals continue: In Massachusetts, the MA Cannabis Control Commission revoked the license of a lab, saying their samples were "90% less likely to fail from the presence of yeast and mold compared to the industry average" (Cultivated reported) And a large study of cannabis labeling by the Univ. of Colorado-Boulder found that "Most marijuana products in Colorado are mislabeled, with actual THC potency “significantly lower” than the verified lab results."

Federally, “intoxicating hemp” is in big trouble again:

Exploring Denver’s New Cannatourism Options

New on the blog!

I recently went to Denver and tried out some of their new consumption spaces designed to bring people together who want to smoke - and do so indoors (!). I think there’s some lessons for Minnesota. Check out my adventures!  READ HERE →

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