Medical cannabis is unique in its role as a medicine for treating pain, PTSD, nausea, and other conditions. It is unique on many levels, not the least of which is inconsistency. For example, did you know that THC volumes in medical cannabis products can vary substantially? Every medical cannabis user should know it and why it matters.
A medical cannabis patient visiting the Zion Medicinal medical cannabis pharmacy in Cedar City, UT would expect to be able to learn about a product’s potency just by looking at the label. That patient could read the label of one product, then look at the label of a similar product to find that THC volumes are substantially different. It is actually pretty common.
Differences between comparable products isn’t even the half of it. That same Zion Medicinal customer could check the potency of a cannabis vape against the potency of unprocessed flower and find even greater differences. Forget about comparing the two products to a tincture or medical cannabis gummy.
So what’s the deal? If I go into my local pharmacy to purchase some aspirin, I can pretty much guarantee its potency will be equal to a comparable product at another pharmacy. Likewise when I purchase my seasonal allergy medicine. So what is so unique about medical cannabis?
Products like aspirin and allergy medicine are regulated by the FDA. As a result, they are subject to federal standards. Medical cannabis is not. It is regulated at the state level, and state laws vary. The end result is a significant difference in potency – not only state-by-state, but often product-by-product.
The only federal standard medical cannabis is subject to is the one that distinguishes marijuana from hemp. Both marijuana and hemp are varieties of cannabis. Any cannabis with more than 0.3% THC by volume is classified as marijuana. Anything at 0.3% or less is considered hemp.
Practically speaking, this means that any medical cannabis product presented as a THC product has in excess of 0.3% THC. A product with less THC would be presented as a CBD product. It is an important distinction, but it doesn’t answer the question of THC potency above and beyond the minimum threshold to classify cannabis as marijuana.
By and large, the states have not addressed upward potency limits. They rely on the federal standard for the minimal THC threshold, but producers and processors are allowed to go upward from there. This matters for a number of reasons.
First, a 2020 study demonstrated that 90% of all medical cannabis products contain higher levels of THC than necessary, with many of them demonstrating 15% or more. That same study suggested that 5% potency is sufficient to relieve chronic pain.
Most experts recommend that new medical cannabis patients start with the ‘low and slow’ approach. This means you take the lowest dose possible at the least frequency and then go from there. But low and slow doesn’t work well when a patient is using a high potency product.
All of this matters for another reason: growers and processors are now in a race to see who can make the highest potency products on the market. As THC volumes increase, we are entering uncharted territory.
Today’s medical cannabis boasts a higher potency than the illegal recreational marijuana our parents and grandparents might have used. This is cause for concern. So much so the patients need to work with their pharmacists to determine the right amount of THC for them.