On this month’s episode, we are joined by Russ Phifer, Executive Director of the National Registry of Certified Chemists and Kyle Boyar, Vice Chair for the American Chemical Society's Cannabis Chemistry Subdivision

Ep 9: What Is the Board Certification of Cannabis Chemists and How Do You Achieve It?

What would legalization and widespread availability of psilocybin therapy look like? We connect with Dr. Sunil Aggarwal, a palliative care physician and cofounder of the Advanced Integrative Medical Science Institute to find out.

The Path to Legalized, Accessible Psilocybin Therapy

With increased awareness of the benefits of psilocybin and other entheogens, we are observing an acceptance of entheogens followed by decriminalization and future legalization.

Entheogens and What Future Compliance May Look Like

Check out the Cannabis Science and Technology June Issue!

Part II of this series reviews the history of vape products, producing cannabis vapes, the myriad of extract types, and how temperature and hardware impact the user experience.

What’s in a Vape, Part II

The Oregon Health Authority (OHA), Public Health Division, has released their proposed psilocybin rules. These rules are necessary to execute the Oregon Psilocybin Services Act. The proposed rules began with how the adoption of the rules can impact racial equity, fiscal and economic impact,and the cost of compliance. The proposed rules include standards for the types of licenses, types of psilocybin products, cultivation and production standards, health and safety expectations for workers and end consumers, training curriculum requirements, product testing, and more. The proposed regulations have plenty of information, so for this blog Allay Consulting looks further into the licensing and manufacturing requirements within these regulations.

: Allows the licensee to manufacture, plant, grow, cultivate (indoor only), harvest, produce, prepare, propagate, and package and label psilocybin mushrooms. Manufacturing licenses have three endorsement types: (a) Fungi cultivation, (b) Psilocybin extraction, and (c) Edible psilocybin production.

 Allows the licensee establishment to administer psilocybin sessions and further support during the session. Under this license, the recipient individual receives their psilocybin and associated therapy during the experience. The service center will provide preparation to the individual, followed by administration, and then integration.

 Allows individuals to conduct psilocybin services at the licensed service center.

Allows facilities to test psilocybin products. Products must be tested for microbiological contaminants, pesticides, other contaminants, solvents and residual solvents, and psilocybin concentration.

Manufacturing Allowances and Restrictions

 There is a limitation on allowed species under the proposed regulations. The noted allowed species are only 

. The proposed regulation further states, “

 has been recommended as a safe species of fungi, and it is the only species allowed under the rules.” 

 is the most psychedelic mushroom species. Don’t fret–there are plenty (hundreds) of strains that fall under the 

 Manufacturer licensees are prohibited from using manure and wood chips. Manufacturers may not produce psilocybin by using genetically modified organisms such as bacteria and may not produce psilocybin by chemical synthesis. Also, manufacturer licensees are prohibited from applying pesticides to fungi or to the fungi growing medium in any way.

 Manufacturing licensees must use food-grade equipment and other product-touching surfaces. These product-touching surfaces must be easily cleanable and safe to use in sanitary operations. Psilocybin products must have an assigned process lot and harvest lot unique ID number that are stored in a locked area. All process lot and harvest lot numbers must be entered into Oregon’s Psilocybin Tracking System. Similar to cannabis regulations, licensees cannot produce, transfer, or sell products that appeal to minors, products that are modeled after non-psilocybin products primarily consumed by minors, or products in the shape of animals, vehicles, persons, or characters.

The proposed regulations place limitations on extraction methods to include water, vegetable glycerin, acetic acids, ethanol, and methanol as solvents in extraction. Other solvents are prohibited, with a specific notation that denatured alcohol is not allowed. The proposed regulations include further restrictions regarding pressure and heat: a manufacturer may not apply pressure or heat over 140 ᴼF when manufacturing psilocybin extracts.

 The drafted regulations state, “a licensee may not add to psilocybin products any chemical, drug, plant, or substance that has the effect of altering potency, intoxicating effect, duration of effect, toxicity, or potential for excessive use, including but not limited to monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), beverage alcohol, or cannabis. A psilocybin product that has added chemicals, drugs, plants, or substances that alter the potency, intoxicating effect, duration of effect, toxicity, or addictiveness is considered adulterated.”

 OHA has placed limitations on the type of psilocybin products allowed to include only orally ingestible products. Other methods such as transdermal patches, inhalers, nasal sprays, suppositories, and injections are prohibited.

Manufacturing Extraction Safety Measures:

 The licensee must have adequate ventilation controlling all sources of ignition where flammable vapors may be present, only use potable water if using water extraction method, install eye wash stations and emergency showers when working with solvents, provide personal protective equipment, and train their staff on the safety of extraction.

Manufacturing Records and Other Documentation: 

To no surprise, it’s proposed that manufacturer licensees are required to keep records of the following, including, but not limited to: manufacturing instructions; ingredients; procedures; solvents (use and handling); procedures for conducting necessary safety checks prior to commencing production; cleaning and sanitation; procedures for preventing growth of pathogenic organisms and toxin formations; proper disposal of any waste; and emergency procedures in case of fire, chemical spill, or other emergencies. Requiring basic current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) principles will result in more compliant products, which benefits both the industry (decreases liability) and the end consumer (decreases in safety issues and increases in quality!).

Similar to state level cannabis testing requirements, the proposed regulations include testing for psilocybin. Below is a list of the proposed testing requirements:

: ensuring the psilocybin is derived from the 

 concentration (potency) of psilocybin and psilocin in the product

 methanol or acetic acid solvents are used to manufacture psilocybin extract. A manufacturer must order tests for these solvents.

Now I know it seems amazing and exciting that there are actually regulations for psilocybin use being written, but there are major items being left out that may need to be addressed. Here are my top three examples of things that I believe should be addressed. Many people are discussing these items in the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board workgroup and in public comment. Whether they get addressed or not is still to be seen.

Licensing when it comes to shamans, tribal leaders, and others who have been working with psychedelics for years may be left out when it comes to being a licensed psilocybin facilitator. At this time, they haven’t finalized the process of licensing people to conduct therapy sessions and what kind of background will be required to become a psilocybin facilitator. So far, the regulations state, “The OHA shall adopt by rule minimum standards of education and training requirements for psilocybin service facilitators.” It seems that they haven’t developed these standards yet, therefore we don’t know what level of involvement veterans of the psychedelic industry will be allowed as facilitators. For instance, if they only allow licensed therapists to be granted licenses, then a whole lot of people who are probably best qualified for these positions will be left out of the legal market. 

Cost of services could be a huge problem. I know that if I had to pay my licensed therapist their hourly rate for 5-7 hours for an in-depth journey, I literally wouldn’t be able to afford it. The cost of these services and a financial barrier to entry may be a problem in the future. We aren’t entirely sure how or if the regulations can help with this issue, but it’s definitely something to think about moving forward.

Microdosing is not addressed in any way in these regulations. As many of you know there is a huge number of people with anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other issues who are finding relief by taking a very small amount of psilocybin every few days. The dose is so small that many report not even noticing that they have taken it, aside from their symptoms subsiding. Not everyone wants to go on an hours-long journey in a clinical environment, but instead might prefer to take a low-dose pill a few times a week to treat their symptoms. I’m really hoping they find a way to include this type of treatment, but we will have to see first how it will be written, if they even decide to include it at all.

Unfortunately, these regulations are now closed to public comment. The Oregon Psilocybin Services Section will begin accepting applications for licensure on January 2, 2023. Until then, the Oregon Psilocybin Services Section is in a development period, working to build the nation's first regulatory framework for psilocybin services.

If you have any questions, comments or would like to join one of the Psilocybin Advisory Board Meetings, visit 

 for more information (1), or reach out to inquire using the information below.

https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/preventionwellness/pages/oregon-psilocybin-services.aspx?utm_source=OHA&utm_medium=egov_redirect&utm_campaign=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.oregon.gov%2Fpsilocybin

Kim Stuck is the CEO and founder of Allay Consulting. Direct correspondence to: 

Articles

The beginning of 2023 will be a huge step to the US’s legalized psilocybin industry! Oregon Psilocybin Services (OPS), a new section housed within the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), will begin accepting license applications January 2, 2023. Oregon’s legalization and implementation of regulations will take three years altogether—several years may seem too long for the legalized psilocybin roll out, but better late than never. This should give the department plenty of time to draft, edit, edit some more, then implement the nation’s first regulatory framework for psilocybin. 

Psilocybin Rule Update: Oregon’s Newly Released Regulations

Recently, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) notified institutions that have received Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) approval to cultivate cannabis that starting around July 28 they will be able to submit applications to supply cannabis for research purposes (1). About two months ago, NIDA first published an initial “sources sought” notice to gather information from prospective applicants about their ability to grow and analyze cannabis (2).

This new notice reportedly outlines various requirements and responsibilities for the manufacturers. For example, they must be able to “produce or procure cannabis, cannabis extract, and other cannabis-derived materials for basic and clinical research, and conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis, stability determination, and recommended storage conditions for these products for approved research” (1).

NIDA will dictate how much cannabis it needs produced and what types of cannabinoids should be extracted and analyzed prior to being transferred to the agency, which will then distribute the products to research institutions (1). NIDA has worked with the same cannabis farm at the University of Mississippi for more than 50 years, and scientists have been critical about the quality of the cannabis and extracts produced at the facility (1). Nora Volkow, Director of NIDA, has reportedly stated that it would be “valuable” for researchers to access cannabis from dispensaries in state-legal markets to better understand the risks and benefits of what consumers are taking in states across the country (3).

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has so far authorized at least six more facilities to grow cannabis for research purposes, however, NIDA said it will only be awarding one contract for a five-year period (1). The DEA has also been increasing annual production quotas for cannabis and other substances, such as psilocybin, as demand from the research community has surged (1).

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/top-federal-drug-agency-details-plan-to-award-one-new-marijuana-supplier-contract-for-research-purposes/

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/top-federal-drug-agency-wants-to-know-which-companies-can-analyze-marijuana-including-dispensary-products/

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/dea-finally-breaks-federal-marijuana-grower-monopoly-with-two-new-companies-harvesting-cannabis-approved-by-agency/

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) recently posted a notice to Drug Enforcement Agency-approved cannabis manufacturers that they will soon be able to submit applications to supply cannabis for research purposes. Currently, NIDA has only worked with one cannabis farm for the past 50 years–the new cannabis supplier selected by NIDA would be the second federally authorized in the country.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Plans to Add One New Cannabis Supplier Contract for Research Purposes

Can you tell us about the roles that acidic and neutral cannabinoids play in cannabis products?

I think it's very important to divide cannabis products up into neutral cannabinoid products and acidic cannabinoid products. In terms of products on the market today, you see this big divergence. Anything that's edible, for example, is a neutral cannabinoid because you're not heating it up, you're just eating it, so it has been pre-decarboxylated by distillate products. All distillate products are neutral. They've already been decarboxylated and are psychoactive. That way, when you vaporize them in the vape pen, they're ready to go.

The acidic products, on the other hand, are the flower itself. As we know, a lot of the reason that you need to smoke cannabis or vaporize a dab is because you're turning that tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) into tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THCA, of course, needs to be decarboxylated to become a neutral cannabinoid, THC. And THC is the psychoactive component of the product. Throughout all of history, that's been the main reason that you have to heat up your cannabis and burn it. You need to put them in a joint or a bowl to heat them up and convert it. Dabbable products like butane hash oil (BHO) or rosin, are acidic products. BHO is a cold extraction with a hydrocarbon solvent. You're not going to be decarboxylating or turning that THCA into THC. That’s why you need to vaporize dabbable products. That's why you put them on your hot ceramic nail and decarboxylate them.

That’s very simplistic, but that gives you a start on being able to look at what products are on the market. Acidic cannabinoid products need to be heated or lit on fire in some way to decarboxylate, while neutral cannabinoid products are ready to go in edibles and distillate.

Why is it important for consumers to know the difference between acidic cannabinoids and neutral cannabinoids? And what are some misconceptions that you see among consumers?

The main thing from a recreational point of view is to know what your product contains so you can know how to use it effectively to get that recreational effect. From a medical point of view, it's important to understand that there are big differences in how the acidic and the neutral versions—even of the same cannabinoid—affect your physiology. And if you can understand that, you can create a much more efficacious use of cannabinoid products for your particular symptomatology or your particular issue that you're trying to solve.

I would say that for just a regular consumer of cannabis, it's important to understand what you're getting, what you're buying, and how to use it. I remember about 10 years ago, for example, people would try to make vape pens and would just mix straight BHO with propylene glycol. Not very many people do that anymore, but they used to and then sell it. Propylene glycol has such a low vaporization point that customers would be smoking and vaporizing and it wouldn't be converting from the THCA to the THC very much. You get such a low conversion rate that basically they wouldn't be getting high. They'd be spending all this money on this product and they would be trying to get some kind of effect out of it, but they wouldn't be getting the effect they wanted. It's actually interesting because back in the day, I came out with the vape pen line under the Sweet Mary Jane brand. I decarboxylated my BHO before I made the vape pen and everybody would come and say, “Oh my god, this vape pen has such a huge effect.” And I'd explain, “yeah, it’s decarboxylated. All these other pens are not decarboxylated. It's just straight BHO mixed with propylene glycol put in a pen with a wick.”

It's also important from the medical point of view to be able to understand the use of acidic versions of cannabinoids, particularly if you don't want to have the psychoactive effects. The cool part about cannabis is that it has both recreational and medicinal purposes. Acidic cannabinoids do have a very large place in medicinal applications. Acidic cannabinoids generally are much better at being anti-inflammatory agents. THCA, for example, is a much better anti-inflammatory agent than THC. Consequently, if you're trying to use cannabis from a medicinal point of view and you're trying to say, treat rheumatism or some kind of inflammatory chronic disease like arthritis, you can use acidic cannabinoids quite effectively, especially if you're not trying to get stoned. For a consumer, such as an older adult, who wants to treat inflammation but doesn’t want to get high, they can use acidic cannabinoids to do that and actually get the effect they're looking for because then they're not going to have that psychoactivity. They get the medicinal aspect without any of the recreational aspect, which is wonderful.

That's really the beauty of cannabinoids, in my mind. You can have so many different applications. We recently saw this explosion of people wanting to use cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) because there were a couple papers out that said CBDA was very effective at treating the symptomatology of COVID versus cannabidiol (CBD). All of a sudden there was this big demand for CBDA because the acidic version of that cannabinoid actually had a larger effect in fighting COVID than CBD did.

How can consumers tell what's in their products, especially considering labeling issues across the country? For example, let's say a novice cannabis user went to a shop or a medicinal facility, and the labels didn't say if the product was acidic or neutral. What kind of resources would the consumer be able to use to find out this information?

In most states, you're going to be able to see the testing of the products on the label. A lot of people don't pay attention to this, but they really should. For example, every gram of concentrate will list on the box your basic cannabinoids—your THCA, THC, CBDA, CBD, and some of the minors—depending on the state. From a consumer point of view, you always want to start by looking at that label. There's also the whole other question of quality. You used to be able to go to the bud tender and say, “open up this jar concentrate. Let me look at it. Let me smell it.” The smell and the color and the consistency of the product is just so important from a quality point of view.

For example, I was in Nevada the other day and I was buying a product. And of course, nowadays you can't see what you're buying. You just have to look at the label. And I looked at the label and I was like, okay, this looks like it's good. It has this much THCA, it has like the terpenes that I’m looking for, specific terpenes that I'm looking for and I'm going to buy it.

So, I bought it and opened it up, and it was just horrible. It was filled with butane, smelled just like butane. It was brown. It wasn't even the consistency that you look for in like a shatter or wax or a live resin. It was just this like oil, essentially, and it was horrible. I mean, I smoked like two dabs and I was like, I'm done. I’ll just throw this away. It’s just a waste of $60 because of course, in Nevada, everything is so expensive.

It's harder and harder nowadays for consumers to be able to get a deep understanding of what they're purchasing. There's also methodologies and use that they can't really see from the label. For example, the label doesn't have anything about presence of butane or presence of propane from hydrocarbon products. It just says that it passed a residual solvent analysis (RSA). In a lot of states, the actual parts per million (ppm) that are acceptable for passing are quite high. In some states, it's 2000 ppm. Butane is totally acceptable, so when you have it, you don't know it.

A lot of customers, at least in more mature markets like Colorado, for example, where customers have been buying product for a long time, they're getting more and more savvy. They start to look for products that they know will be consistent even if they can't see it. They'll find solvent-less products like rosins. With rosin product, there's never going to be any solvent, there’s never going to be butane, propane, or ethanol.

You can trust that you're not going to have any of those solvents because of how the product is made. It’s the same with Vapor-Static. That's a big reason that why BCT is focused on this is. A customer in a market where they can’t dive in and open up a product and smell it and see it before they buy it can at least know when they see that it's Vapor-Static extracted, they're not going to be getting any solvents in what they're consuming.

My number one suggestion for consumers is to buy several products, check the labeling, make sure you have the cannabinoids that you're looking for in the ratios that you're looking for, and check that the terpenes are good. Buy a couple products from different brands. Get your brands that are consistent and produce high quality products. I find that if you just focus 100% on the cheapest product or get bamboozled by packaging, oftentimes you're going to be disappointed and sometimes you're just unlucky. I've been in the industry for 10 years, and I did everything right. I checked the label. I look at it. Sometimes they have a little display. They didn't have a little display in Nevada and I bought it, and it ended up being a bad product. You're not going to be able to use techniques all the time that'll get you to 100% high quality stuff that you're looking for. But there are ways that you can mitigate that. Go to dispensaries that actually have displays of their product. I was going to this dispensary in Nevada, you couldn't even see what you were buying. It was just like a list that had like the THC and CBD number and some of the terpene data. And that was all I had. And if I hadn't been just driving through on my way to California, I would have probably taken the time and I would have been like, this isn't the dispensary for me. You want to go find a dispensary, (A) that has displays and good data, and (B) that has budtenders that'll actually take the time to really explain things.

Budtenders have such an important function. Some dispensaries are so corporatized nowadays; you don't get to talk to anybody and no one really knows anything about what they're selling. There are good dispensaries that have budtenders who will take the time to learn what you're looking for and be able to have reliable suggestions of products.

As a consumer, I say, you want to do your research. You want to go to a couple of dispensaries and find the one that's right for you, one that has good bud tenders and good displays. Then focus on finding a set of products that work for you and sticking with those brands, but obviously try some new stuff every once in a while. The best way to ensure that you have consistent quality product is to find what you want and stick with it. It might take a little while. One of the things I always feel so sad about is when somebody buys a product and it's too gnarly, so they give up on the whole concept because they had this one bad experience.

If you get a product and it's not great, go somewhere else, find another one. There will always be good companies and good products in every single state. In Colorado, there's quite a few because we have such a long experience with making high quality cannabis. In other states, there might be less, but you can always find them.

It’s important from a consumer perspective to know what you're trying to get out of it. Let's say you're trying this whole concept of THC, CBD ratios, and terpenes. If you're trying to get very high, to have an extremely energetic effect, you're looking for THC. You're not trying to attenuate that with any CBD. So that's how you can think, “okay, I want to get super high. I want a sativa effect. I want energy. All this stuff.” If you want a more relaxing effect, for example, you're going to look for terpenes like myrcene. Myrcene is a great way to know that something is going to be relaxing. Almost all heavy indicas, OG indicas have a high amount of myrcene and then, of course, higher amounts of CBD. CBD attenuates the effect of THC, creates a more relaxing experience.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I definitely am very passionate about this. If you'd like to learn more about Boulder Creek Technologies, check out our website 

. You can also check out our Instagram at @bouldercreektechnologies. My personal Instagram is @shattergurljacqueline and I share a lot of Vapor-Static topics. Feel free to reach out to us in any way you like.

For part I of this interview, please click this link: 

https://www.cannabissciencetech.com/view/a-new-technology-offers-a-solventless-alternative-for-efficient-extraction-an-interview-with-jaqueline-mcgrane-of-boulder-creek-technologies-part-i 

In Part II of this interview, Jaqueline McGrane, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Boulder Creek Technologies (BCT) explains the importance of consumers being able to recognize the differences between acidic and neutral cannabinoids, especially when considering current product labelling practices.

Acidic and Neutral Cannabinoids Explained: An Interview with Jaqueline McGrane of Boulder Creek Technologies, Part II

With the passing of Ballot Measure 109 in November 2020, Oregon legalized the manufacturing, transportation, delivery, sale, and purchase of psilocybin products. Several other cities have decriminalized, yet Oregon is the only state to legalize psilocybin mushrooms. We are expecting roll-outs of regulations similar to those of cannabis with a focus on compliance to keep the public safe and companies in business. With so many other types of psychedelics (entheogens), we will dive further into common psychedelics, cities that have decriminalized, and the future compliance of hallucinogenic plant and fungi. The Oregon-proposed rules have been released, and all information about their psilocybin program can be found 

 (1). This is a very exciting time for the industry!

Psychedelics are often grouped together to include natural plants and fungi—and some include synthetic substances. These hallucinogenic plants and fungi are often referred to as “entheogens”: 

 (creates). Entheogens means “creating the divine within.” If you were to chat with a person who is well acquainted with psychedelics, they’d likely say entheogens are natural plants that provide you with a spiritual experience (2). In an article published by 

 magazine word “entheogen” was created in the 1950s to rebrand “psychedelic” to reframe value and perceived validity in a more positive, neutral term (2). Articulating an immense spiritual experience through one word can be difficult, however the word “entheogen” feels right.

While the recent political attention has been on mushrooms containing psilocybin and psilocin, there are plenty of other psychedelic natural plants. Surprisingly, there are thousands of plants and fungi that induce psychotropic effects. Below is a short list of the most common entheogens, some are detailed in various decriminalization movements.

 – yes, the crawling vine plant that blossoms beautiful bright purple-blue flowers. Beware, some seeds are coated with an antifungal chemical.

 – has been demonstrated to interrupt substance use disorders

 – also known as sage, but not the same sage found in your cupboard

 – a synthetic chemical comprised of a substance found in ergot fungus

 – a striking cactus that can grow anywhere between 10–20 feet tall and blooms impressive white flowers

 – the earliest record of peyote is dated back to 3780–3660 BCE in ancient Native American tombs

 – described as a profound and transformative experience

“Decriminalize Nature” is a common phrase we see from cities attempting to pass decriminalization. Within the last two years, there have been multiple cities and states making changes to decriminalize nature, specifically entheogens!

Cities across the United States are decriminalizing entheogens. Reminder: these cities have not fully legalized any commercial activity (except the state of Oregon). Please note that there are sometimes religious exemptions for using of psychedelics in different states and tribal lands as well.

2019 – Denver, Colorado decriminalized psilocybin mushrooms

2019 – Oakland, California decriminalized psilocybin mushrooms and peyote

2020 – Santa Cruz, California decriminalized psilocybin mushrooms

2020 – Ann Arbor, Michigan decriminalized entheogenic plants or plant compounds

2020 – state of Oregon LEGALIZED psilocybin mushrooms via Ballot Measure 109

2020 – District of Columbia decriminalized psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, and mescaline

2021 – Washtenaw County, Michigan decriminalized entheogenic plants

2021 – Somerville, Massachusetts decriminalized the possession of entheogenic plants, including psilocybin mushrooms and ibogaine

2021 – Cambridge, Massachusetts decriminalized entheogenic plants and fungi like ayahuasca, ibogaine, and psilocybin mushrooms

2021 – Northampton, Massachusetts decriminalized entheogens like psilocybin and ayahuasca

2021 – Seattle, Washington decriminalized enforcing all entheogen-related activities

2021 – Detroit, Michigan is the latest city to decriminalize, making the personal possession and therapeutic use of entheogenic plants by adults the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority

Potential Future Compliance with Entheogens

The only state to legalize entheogens, specifically psilocybin mushrooms, is Oregon at this time. The Oregon Health Authority Public Health Division’s Center for Health Protection (OHA) created a new section called “Oregon Psilocybin Services” to handle the regulatory roll-out. The OHA will regulate the manufacturing, transportation, delivery, sale, and purchase of psilocybin products. The section will determine the regulatory framework and implementation over a two-year time frame. The OHA will begin taking applications for licenses beginning January 2, 2023. Although we are extremely grateful for Oregon’s legalization, the community does not yet have a well-painted picture of how psilocybin will be regulated.There are a lot of issues that the proposed rules have that will need to be addressed before their finalized version is released.

Keep in mind that regulations are not set in stone and are more of a work in progress. Just because something isn’t working for us now, doesn’t mean it can’t change. Consider for a minute the Colorado cannabis regulations. They have changed several times and we still are changing them every year. When you legalize something for the first time it won’t be perfect, so make sure you speak up when regulations are open to public comment in the future, so we can try to find a more efficient set of regulations that will benefit the industry as a whole.

We believe the future set of Oregon’s psilocybin regulations will be a combination of current guidelines used by other regulated industries. This may include combining several sets of regulations: cannabis regulations, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), current good manufacturing practices (cGMP), good agricultural and collecting practice (GACP), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) along with unique local or city specific requirements.

Aspects of current cannabis regulations may be imposed on the psilocybin legalized community. A major part adopted from cannabis may include the traceability and reporting of mushrooms. Traceability is encouraged from the FDA yet heavily enforced from cannabis state regulators. The mushroom traceability program may incorporate aspects from the manufacturer, laboratory, service center, and facilitator license types all the way through the customer. Most states require cannabis companies to use a state-issued traceability platform to help track each product with the intention of limiting products entering the non-regulated market.

The USDA has a division that provides audits for the production of non-psychedelic mushrooms. Although the USDA doesn’t regulate the mushroom industry, the department provides audit programs and good agricultural practices. These guidelines may provide the psilocybin community insight into how Oregon may regulate mushroom cultivation best practices.

The FDA has established standards for the growing, harvesting, packing, and holding of produce for human consumption. Yes, the FDA categorizes mushrooms as produce. This falls under FDA’s Produce Safety Rule. These standards may support many aspects of the psilocybin industry to ensure the safety of the product and ultimately the safety of the end consumer.

The FDA’s cGMPs would be applicable once the mushroom is harvested from the growing medium and then processed. These are the same cGMPs that are applicable in any traditional food or hemp product manufacturing facility. cGMP requires a systematic quality approach to manufacturing, including the development and implementation of procedures and documentation for the design, monitoring, and control of all manufacturing processes. Not only does cGMP help businesses prevent hazards such as contamination or errors, but it also ensures that products are safe for consumers, every time.

The other set of regulations that are also relevant are GACP in fungi cultivation facilities. There are several accredited certification companies that are offering a mushroom cultivation specific GACP certification. Many companies that are wanting to get into psilocybin are already working towards this certification in their functional mushroom cultivations to stand out when putting in an application for psylocibin production. It’s definitely a good idea to think about implementing these practices from the start to be able to better compete once licenses become available.

Though these are only projected applicable standards and regulations, it gives the entheogen community a head start on which sets of regulations to apply. We will ultimately have to wait and see how Oregon rolls out their long development period to see their finalized regulations. I personally have high hopes for all the possibilities of this amazing industry!

https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PREVENTIONWELLNESS/Pages/Oregon-Psilocybin-Services.aspx

https://doubleblindmag.com/what-does-entheogen-actually-mean/

Psychedelics, also known as entheogens. Everyone has an opinion. From the superb kaleidoscope shapes, or making that concert even more memorable, or to digging a bit deeper within yourself for self-healing—entheogens can be a game changer. For some, these experiences are life changing, especially if it means improving well-being and life satisfaction. Thanks to many published clinical trials, the benefits of using entheogens such as psilocybin include reducing anxiety and depression, successful addiction interruption, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment, and many others. With increased awareness of the benefits of psilocybin and other entheogens, we are observing an acceptance of entheogens followed by decriminalization and future legalization. 

Based in Colorado, Boulder Creek Technologies (BCT) recently introduced a new extraction system to the cannabis industry that offers a solventless alternative to current technologies. In part I of this interview, Jaqueline McGrane, Senior Vice President of Business Development at BCT, gives an in-depth description of the unique functionality of their extraction system and the advantages it provides to clients in terms of efficacy, quality, and safety.

Can you tell us about your position at Boulder Creek Technologies (BCT)?

I am the Senior Vice President of Business Development for Boulder Creek Technologies. BCT is a startup, so we all wear a lot of hats, but as a senior vice president, I do a lot of connections with my network of people in the cannabis industry, educating people on the Vapor-Static™ System and its applications to the industry. I do a lot of the science as well, because my background is in biology and organic chemistry.

What experience do you have in the cannabis industry?

I've been in the cannabis industry for over a decade. I started in Colorado before Amendment 64 (the legalization of adult use cannabis). I ran a company called Herbal Sacrament that made butane hash oil (BHO) products, and then I ran a couple of MIP facilities and then started a consulting company.

I've designed facilities domestically and internationally for processing of cannabis and hemp material into end products. My specialty is in extraction. I joined BCT a little more than a year and a quarter ago and I've been with them ever since.

Our main ethos is to bring safe, efficient, solventless processing mechanisms to processing systems to the cannabis and hemp market. The basic objective is creating sustainable systems that are very efficient at producing high quality products for the consumer and patients. One of our biggest challenges in the cannabis and hemp market is sustainability. We're using lots of solvents, we're using a lot of power requirements, and we need huge amounts of labor to take this plant material and turn it into the final products that consumers and patients are using.

It's one of the things that I personally have dealt with throughout my entire experience in the industry. BCT was founded on an ethos of bringing techniques that don't involve flammable solvents or batch methodologies. The other big ethos is that all our processing systems are continuous processing systems, which creates a large amount of efficiency.

You mentioned BCT is a startup. Are you only in Colorado right now or have you expanded to other states?

BCT has actually been in existence for almost three years now. We started with the prototyping the system, the Vapor-Static technology, as well as a second system that is a medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil extractor. It's a solventless semi continuous MCT oil extractor. BCT started with producing that device and selling it, and then they prototyped the Vapor-Static system, optimized it, and ran it through its paces for a long time. After we were able to get to a point of being able to produce a production system, we released it to the public at MJBizCon. That was our first release of the Vapor-Static to the wider cannabis industry.

We have units in production right now. Our first unit was our largest one—a 5000 pound/day extractor—and it's currently operating with a client in Oregon who is running cannabis material at very high volumes. That just goes to show the capabilities of Vapor-Static: we can produce a solventless device that can run 5000 pounds a day.

We currently have another VS 5000 Extractor that is being delivered to a client in Utah at the beginning of July, a VS 1000 Extractor heading to Hawaii after that, and several more VS 1000 systems in various stages of sales and production. We're also just about to close a deal with a company that's associated with a large university in the United States. There's a lot of different sales coming up and production systems that will be going out over the next several months to multiple states. And then probably within 8 months, we'll start getting off into the international market.

Can you tell us more about the partnerships you have been forming?

Yeah, I can give you a brief description of some of the partnerships that we have. We are developing a very deep relationship with Maratek. Maratek is a company from Toronto, Canada and is a major large scale fabricator engineering firm. They had been producing ethanol systems and were interested in working with us because of how efficient the solventless system is.

Right now, we're going to be announcing at NoCo a major partnership with them to continue to work with us. They’re a distributor of our equipment as well as now a fabricator of it. With Maratek on board now as both a fabricator and a distributor, our production has become much more efficient and has opened up more opportunities for sales in Canada and internationally.

We also have a distribution relationship with Agrify, and they have been an amazing partner and are incredibly excited about what this system can do in the market.

What are some of the achievements you've been involved in with BCT and what projects are you working on now?

Basically, our main goal over the last year has been getting the pilot Vapor-Static system to the point of being a production device and to be something that we can sell. That was a huge step forward. We were optimizing and running, modifying, and improving the prototype device for a very long time. Because it's a new technology, we wanted to absolutely ensure that our system was ready for prime time. We all know in this industry there's a lot of companies that bring in new tech that's not very well tested and ends up causing problems.

Down the line, there's further development of the system. Right now, the system will take ground, dried biomass and produce an oil that you can put straight into a distillation system in the future. We want to be able to take wet biomass and output distillate, which is totally feasible with our platform.

In the future, the end goal of the Vapor-Static system is to have biomass pretty much straight-off-the-farm wet on the other side of the machine, and a continuous process pumping out distillate that's ready for the consumer, all in a solventless and continuous methodology.

We spent over a year bringing the pilot and production systems to the point of being a production system. That was a huge milestone that we achieved this year. And then the public release at MJBizCon was great. I've been at every MJBizCon since it was at the Rio, and this was probably the most interest that I've seen in a system ever.

Another big milestone recently has been getting that first production system operational at a huge scale at our client's facility in Oregon. I just got some great client testimonials about that. They say that they're super excited to be part of the innovation we're bringing to the market.

Our support has been incredible, which means a lot to us. As a company that's bringing a new technology to the market, we want to be known for providing great support and ensuring our customers’ success. So, to get that kind of feedback has been really great.

Building on these sales across the nation, the next big steps are to get out into the international market, which involves some modifications. You've got to meet different requirements in Europe than you do in the United States. That'll be the next step for development of the system, then mass fabrication. With our new relationship that we're going to be announcing soon with Meritech we’ll be able to have a major large-scale fabricator behind us building these systems en masse. It’s actually a huge achievement for us and we're really happy about that.

We've also been hiring a lot of people like myself. I have a major social media following. A lot of the team members that we brought on over the last year have been huge. We have such a great team here. We brought on people like Matthew Broxterman, our Sales Director and Levi Wells, our Director of Engineering. The founders, Rick and Steve Bonde, are amazing guys. Now we have a whole crew of people working in BCT. We've expanded quite a lot and we have further expansion coming up.

Could you tell us more about the research and development happening with your plans for the future?

We have in-house analytics and I actually run the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for testing in-house, so we can do that really efficiently. We have our test bed system in Arvada, Colorado that we’re running almost every day to try to improve various components, to improve ease of manufacturing, to optimize further, and add on different modules so that we can take those next steps.

We're continuously doing research and development as one of our major focuses and then also putting a lot of effort into our customer development and customer service. That's going to be a big part of the next several months as we start to get a lot more of these systems out into the hands of customers.

What changes do you see happening in terms of cannabis production in the next few years?

The fact is, how we produce cannabis products today is so inefficient. With an ethanol processing line, for example, you have cryocoolers to chill your solvent down, then you have centrifugal extractors, then you have filtration modules, and then you have falling-film evaporators (FFEs) to recover it. Then you have a decarboxylation and degassing system and then you go to distillation.

Each one of these steps is a batch methodology. Each one of those steps requires a person or multiple people to operate it. Then, running it through a solvent, you're going to lose a lot of hydrocarbons and ethanol into the atmosphere. It's not a very sustainable way to do things and it also creates high prices. It reduces accessibility because all this cost is added on.

Then, of course, you have safety concerns. We all know about people blowing up their houses or facilities with BHO and ethanol. Now, don't get me wrong, I did BHO for a long time. There are ways to do it safe, and most people do it safe, but there's always that risk. There’s also all the cost involved in in housing this equipment if you're running a hydrocarbon production facility. You're spending potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars on Class I, Division 1 (C1D1) infrastructure, sprinkler CO

 fire suppression systems, ventilation, exhaust, air conditioning and other equipment as well as the space to house it all.

There's so much infrastructure required that it just creates such an inefficient way to do things. It also creates high product prices and it's not a sustainable methodology. Vapor-Static solves pretty much every one of those issues, and that's why I'm excited. Over 10 years, I've seen a lot of new stuff, and I have never seen anything with the potential like that of BCT in Vapor-Static technology to disrupt, change, and bring innovation to this market.

Vapor-Static technology allows continuous process. It replaces four or five systems that require multiple individual systems all housed in this C1D2 or C1D1 infrastructure and requiring many individual laborers to operate.With Vapor-Static technologya single person operating a continuous device in a regular building that doesn't require any sort of additional infrastructure for safety, plus you're not losing solvents to the atmosphere.

You don't have safety concerns in terms of the potential risk of fire and explosion and you have a very high quality product that comes out. The Vapor-Static concentrate that comes out of our system is substantially higher quality than an ethanol oil. You end up with a product that's much easier to process into the end products for consumers.

You can take the Vapor-Static concentrate and put it straight into edible products right there. You can also run it through distillation right away to get to distillate products that are solvent-less and have increased accessibility of the market so you can reduce prices. You can have high quality product that is a fraction of the cost that you see today instead of spending $50 or $60 on a on a vape card, people will be able to spend a half of that, or a quarter of that. You could reduce prices so much with our technology.

Finally, we’re introducing some real sustainability to the market. Once cannabis becomes federally legalized, and it will, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is going to start being much more involved. I think they already see what's going on in the industry and are not very happy with it.

Our technology could be designated a Best Available Technology by the EPA or other federal regulatory agencies because of how efficient, safe, and sustainable it is. Moving forward, we hope to help facilitate the nationalization of the cannabis market by having this technology be something that regulatory agencies look very favorably upon and have it be something that, from a production standpoint, you just need to have. If you're trying to create high quality products using these older methodologies that require such high cost, you just won't be able to compete, in my opinion.

It's also very important to consider neutral cannabinoids versus acidic. The effect of BCT and Vapor-Static on the market is going to be for neutral cannabinoids. I specifically joined BCT and I believe in BCT because it brings this new technology to the market that could really revolutionize the production of neutral cannabinoids. In terms of other systems, other methodologies, to create dabbable products and other such products can actually be complementary.

Let's say you had a BHO system and you're running live resin. When you run live resin, you're not getting a very high extraction efficiency and it’s due to the fact that you're freezing the biomass material. There's a lot of cannabinoids in cell structure. Right now, we just throw them away, but you can actually take that post-extraction stuff, run it through the Vapor-Static system, and recover those cannabinoids. The Vapor-Static can increase and complement acidic methodologies like rosin production and BHO production, and it can completely replace neutral production systems like ethanol and CO

That's why I joined BCT. This is going to truly change the industry. And I haven't believed in a new technology in 10 years of being in this industry as much as I believe in Vapor-Static.

Is the Best Available Technology (BAT) designation something you can petition for now or do you have to wait for the EPA and other federal agencies to become involved?

All cannabis processing is basically regulated on a state level. With these individual states, we can have good relationships with regulatory agencies. The fire department is a great example. When we had the fire department inspect our system, they were so happy because they realized it wasn't going to be a huge issue. With BCT, because we don't have super high pressures or flammable solvents, the fire department just loves us. I've built BHO facilities and ethanol facilities, and it's always a struggle. The fire department is often very difficult to deal with. It's so hard and it costs so much money. They could come anytime and say, “This isn't allowed anymore. It's too dangerous,” which costs companies hundreds of thousands of dollars. It creates a bad relationship between fire departments and the processors in their municipalities or in their region of regulatory control.

We can create these good relationships on a state level between our customers and the agencies that regulate them. Once cannabis becomes federally legalized and the federal government is regulating the industry directly, that is going to facilitate easy integration. Then we will be in a great place to get a BAT designation which will allow our customers to set-up their facilities much more quickly and at a reduced cost

 If a customer uses Vapor-Static, they can be approved even more easily. Our hope is to really help facilitate federal legalization by reducing the friction between regulatory industries and the processors that they're regulating, and also to save people money.

For example, I was lab director for one company that was shut down because the fire department came in and said, “your C1D1 infrastructure is not correct. You need to totally change it.” It was going to cost $800,000 to get a brand-new specialty build C1D1 that fit into what they had decided that they needed at that time. The company went under as a result. We didn't have the money to totally change out our C1D1 space. With Vapor-Static, you're never going to have that problem. And that's a huge advantage because we all know just how much friction there is, oftentimes.

There’s a lot of friction, distrust, and issues between the city of Denver and the processors within the city of Denver, for example. People are being threatened with jail. I just had a client call me and say that the fire inspector had threatened to put him in jail unless he changed something about how he was doing his BHO operations.

With Vapor-Static, you're never going to have that. That's a huge advantage. The truly revolutionary thing, though, is combining safety with efficiency. A lot of times, things are safer but more expensive. This is safer and more efficient, which is why I think it's a true step change in technology.

We want to be transparent about our tech. It’s very important to get that across. As a new technology, we want to invite people to see. We do demos with people all the time, so come to our facility. We don't have a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) license, but we've run clients’ hemp material that they use in their facilities to show how the Vapor-Static systems work. We'd be more than happy to give you a tour and show you a demo.

In part I of this interview, Jaqueline McGrane, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Boulder Creek Technologies, gives an in-depth description of the unique functionality of their extraction system and the advantages it provides to clients in terms of efficacy, quality, and safety. 

A New Technology Offers a Solventless Alternative for Efficient Extraction: An Interview with Jaqueline McGrane of Boulder Creek Technologies, Part I

Recently, Leafreport, an Israeli company that provides reviews of cannabidiol (CBD) companies and products, released their 2022 transparency report for 4384 CBD products, which included products intended for human and animal consumption. According to their report, Leafreport conducted their research by examining the certificates of analysis (CoA) of 188 brands as advertised on their websites (1). The purity and potency aspects that Leafreport examined were the percentage of products that had been tested for pesticides, heavy metals, and microbes, plus products that fell within the acceptable variance level.

Some of the key findings Leafreport noted were (1):

7% of brands tested all their products for microbes, pesticides, and heavy metals

28% of brands did not carry out any testing for pesticides (such as glyphosate)

26% did not test for the presence of any heavy metals (such as arsenic)

24% did not test for microbes (like bacteria)

Only 12% of brands had all their products fall within acceptable potency variance limits (+/-10%)

In comparison to their 2021 report, Leafreport stated that, “transparency within the CBD industry appears to be stagnating and deteriorating in several critical respects” (1). For example, the report stated that “88% of brands had at least one product measure beyond acceptable potency variance levels in 2022 in comparison to 84% in 2021” (1).

However, there were some small improvements from 2021. For example, the report stated that “the number of brands that carry out no purity testing has dropped from 25% to 20%. The number of brands that carry out absolutely no testing at all has dropped from three brands in 2021 to two this year” (1). Additionally, just “two brands carried out no lab testing at all for either purity or potency, compared to three brands in 2021.”

Leafreport also provided a detailed list of the CBD brands that tested all their products for potency, microbes, heavy metals, and pesticides, plus a list of brands that tested all their products for potency.

https://www.leafreport.com/education/cbd-market-transparency-report-only-7-of-brands-test-for-pesticides-heavy-metals-and-microbes-16349

Recently, Leafreport, an Israeli company that provides reviews and comparisons of cannabidiol (CBD) companies and products, released their 2022 report on their transparency analysis for 4384 CBD products.

Leafreport Releases Results of Transparency Analysis of Cannabidiol Products

BrandTech Scientific recently introduced a new logo for its Vacuubrand line of oil-free diaphragm pumps, oil-free screw pumps, rotary vane pumps, complete pumping units, flexible vacuum systems, and solutions for local area networks. According to the company, you will see the new branding rolled out across the US and Canadian through all the BrandTech Scientific touchpoints in the coming months.

 or watch the video representing the transformation from the old to the new Vacuubrand logo: 

https://www.vacuubrand.com/tmpshare/Vacuubrand_Logo_Morphing.mp4

BrandTech Scientific introduces a new logo for its Vacuubrand product line

BrandTech Scientific Launches New Logo for Vacuubrand

For its first time hosting an event in California, the Cannabis Science Conference West chose Long Beach, California as the destination and held the event from May 18–20, 2022. Joining the analytical, medical, cultivation, and hemp tracks this year, the new psychedelics track made its debut. The conference included dozens of presentations, more than 80 exhibitors, plus an interactive workshop—the Canna Boot Camp, which gave attendees an inside look into cultivation, pre-processing, sample prep, analytical testing, extraction, and more. In addition, longtime medical cannabis advocate Montel Williams gave an inspiring and motivational plenary address about the future of the cannabis reform movement.

There were so many informative talks and connections made across the full, two-day event. Speakers gathered from across the country (and globe) to share their research and best practices with attendees. Here, we highlight one session from each track.

The analytical track featured more than 20 speakers during the two-day track. One such interesting presentation was given by Kimberly Stuck, founder of Allay Consulting, LLC. Drawing from her experience as a former restaurant and wholesale food inspector and the first cannabis public health investigator, Stuck gave an informative and detailed presentation on how to create safe facilities, mitigate risks, and how to be prepared for FDA regulation when federal legalization happens.

The medical track featured more than 16 speakers and four engrossing panel discussions on topics ranging from cannabis nurses, veterans, clinical directors, and pediatrics. The panel discussion on parents’ perspectives on pediatric cannabis included Dr. Jennifer Anderson of Bison Family Medical Centre; Janie Maedler of Rylie’s Sunshine; Tracy Ryan of NKore Therapeutics; and Rhonda Moeller, and was moderated by Dr. Bonni Goldstein, Medical Director of Canna-Centers Wellness and Education. The powerful and deeply personal discussion explored their efforts to shape legislation, advocate for access to medical cannabis, and ultimately provide the best care for children facing illness.

The one-day cultivation track featured 10 different speakers covering key topics for anyone involved in building facilities and growing plants. Autumn Karcey of Alchemy 29 gave a keynote presentation on how to make sustainable decisions in facility design, specifically how environmental parameters can determine the selection between indoor, outdoor, and greenhouse facilities. She also explored the differences between commercialization and craft cannabis, plus how cultivators can raise standards while still staying competitive by lowering their overall cost of goods sold.

The one-day hemp track featured more than 10 speakers. The notable keynote address in this track was given by Scheril Murray Powell, Esq. of Green Sustainable Strong LLC on how to successfully expand the hemp cannabinoids business and market in other countries. She covered the strengths, weaknesses, and threats of entering a new market; how to handle challenges with selling and shipping products to various countries while navigating their specific laws; and advice on how to be a good ambassador when marketing a product.

As stated above, the newly launched psychedelics track featured two-days of talks from 14 speakers as well as an interesting panel discussion on a nurse's role in the space. One of the keynote presentations in this track was given by Alison Draisin, Lead Psychotherapist at the AIMS Institute, in which she explained the new modalities of psychotherapy at the Institute: cannabis and psychedelic assisted therapy. She described how the Institute uses ketamine to support patients moving forward with psychological issues, plus the skills needed for clinicians to consider when using cannabis or psychedelics with their patients or clients.

Join us for Cannabis Science Conference East in Baltimore, Maryland September 14–16, 2022. For more information on Cannabis Science Conferences, please visit 

https://www.cannabisscienceconference.com/

. To stay up to date on the latest information and to view photos and video from the conference, follow on social media: 

Cannabis Science Conference West was held in Long Beach, California from May 18–20, 2022. Here we provide a few highlights from the event. 

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