On Cannabis in Canada‘s Smoke Show, medical cannabis activists Freddie Pritchard and Harry Warburton test licensed producer grown cannabis from Tilray, Broken Coast and MedReleaf and give their personal opinion on the products.
On this instalment, Freddie and Harry look at five different strains from the three licensed producers, looking at advertised weights, burnability, flavour, aroma and taste with samples of each sent in to an accredited laboratory to confirm listed THC and CBD content.
|
Licensed Producer Package Advertised Content |
Accredited Lab Content Results |
|||
|
THC |
CBD | THC |
CBD |
|
|
Cannatonic — Tilray |
12.1% | 9.6% | 10.9% |
6.8% |
| Lasqueti — Broken Coast | 21.1% | 0.05% | 16.2% |
0.02% |
|
Midnight — MedReleaf |
8–11% | 10–13% | 7.8% |
7.4% |
| Bellis — MedReleaf | 16–19% | 0% | 14.3% |
0.02% |
| Luminarium — MedReleaf | 26–29% | 0% | 22.1% |
0.03% |
First up is Cannatonic, from Tilray, which Harry said was smooth to smoke and had a flavour he didn’t mind, but didn’t think he could use it as medication.
“It’s burnability is fine, but in terms of its flavour and its aroma I’m still going to have to stick with our street cannabis,” said Freddie.
Broken Coast’s Lasqueti was also looked at and, while Freddie said it was one of the better strains tested, he still had issue with the taste.
“There’s something about them where they almost taste dead,” Freddie said.
The last three strains all came from Markham, Ontario based MedReleaf, first looking at Midnight, developed by Tikun Olam, Israel’s largest, government-approved producer of medical cannabis.
Freddie wasn’t impressed with the product, saying it was heavy in his throat and that would “be so disappointed if I bought weed like that.”
MedReleaf’s Bellis and Luminarium were also tested, with both men also unimpressed with the quality.
Freddie took issue with what he saw as products unfit for medical consumption.
“[It’s] lower quality, medium grade at best, which isn’t good enough, it isn’t good enough for patients in this country,” Freddie said.
For the average patient, Harry pointed out that all the information they receive comes from the producers themselves.
“All you know is what they say. You’re not a chemist, you’re just a patient trusting what that label says,” said Harry. “I would expect a lot more out of all the money spent on the research and availability of the people in the profession to grow something a lot better than that.”
All samples sent to an accredited lab found that LP claims on THC and CBD content were all off by several percentage points, even for those products that claimed a range in strength.
The Smoke Show is produced in partnership with Budzilla, where business owner Rejean Houle is offering MMPR patients the chance to turn in their licensed producer cultivated medical cannabis for testing.
Houle is still looking for samples from patients, and is offering those that bring in at least a gram of licensed producer grown cannabis double that amount from Budzilla.
To qualify for the program, patients need to bring in their registration papers as well as the container the cannabis was shipped in, as proof.
For more information, visit Budzilla at 2267 Kingsway in Vancouver or their website.
Note: graphics in the video list Broken Coast’s Lasqueti advertised THC content as 22.1%, but the actual advertised content on the package is 21.1%.