Page 11 - Sonoma County Gazette - August 2018

LETTERS cont’d from page 10
Stringent Testing
Testing standards for cannabis is currently more stringent than any other agricultural commodity. As
of July 1st, 2018, there are over 90 analytes that are required for testing labs to quantitatively screen for.
These analytes include chemicals produced by the plant (cannabinoids and terpenes) to agricultural and manufacturing chemicals that might have been used (pesticides and residual solvents) in the processing
of any cannabis product. The instrumentation and training required to screen for these analytes are cost heavy and labor intensive. Labs were given a 6 month “phase-in” period to implement all these analytes, during which time lab pricing and turnaround times increased. All cannabis labs in California are held to a high level of standard. It is important to recognize that for a cannabis lab to remain compliant, the turnaround times will remain at the times they are now, until the labs have had a chance to scale properly to handle the workload of
expand these very characteristics in order to deal with our challenges as we strive to learn to live in greater harmony within our ecosystem. Along with assisting in expanding world wide collective consciousness and helping our bodies heal many of our modern physical woes, cannabis can help us create a more resilient community. If we are striving to be more self-supporting, and feed our needs ourselves, shouldn’t we be growing more of our own medicines? Especially a medicine that has a myriad of discovered beneficial uses?
I have been an alternative health care practitioner and a community health care activist for my entire
adult life. I see the cannabis that my farm grows as being a continuation/ evolution of that work. I live in Sonoma County; I want to provide my medicine to Sonoma County. We feel this is one of the greatest contributions we can offer at this time.
We will continue to tell our children that we work so hard because we are striving to do something very important that could help evolve medical care toward a more compassionate and holistic standard. We are grateful to have this opportunity.
all cannabis products in the state of California. At Sonoma Lab Works we have already signed off on extra equipment to help maintain an efficient workflow.
Sica Roman, Spring Creek Farm
David Chen, Senior Chemist Sonoma Labworks
SEND LETTERS to vesta@sonic.net
CANNABIS OPINION cont’d on page 12
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