[MyGreenToe]

Hi guys! I thought starting a new thread for this discussion, in the right place, would be a good idea. Here it is!

For reasons which should be obvious, serious scientific analysis of MJ, particularly in relation to strain, and the levels of active compounds, has been limited. Given recent political developments, this analysis is now available to everyone in legal areas, not just govt mandated tests. We can finally start seeing what makes the best strains so good, and determine what is there without having to go through the highly subjective method of just smoking it(nonetheless an important part of any analysis )

So how do they do that anyways?
There are two basic methods in use to look at the profile of compounds in mj:
Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectroscopy(GC/MS), and
Thin Layer Chromatography(TLC)

GC/MS provides actual number based data, and is more useful for actual analysis. It is not a cheap test to run. I dont have actual pricing data, anyone that has done testing, feel free to chime in with what you paid!
TLC provides a visual means of seeing what your weed is made up of, and is of limited value from a measuring aspect. It is however very affordable per test, and could be used as a somewhat reliable method of fingerprinting a strain, and could be useful in this aspect for dispensaries to check they are getting what they expect and not a substitution.

OK thats a start. I will add more detailed explanations of each method at a later time.

The results of these analysis can be useful in many ways:
-Developing a rational database to help medical users find the right plant for what ails them.
-Helping breeders narrow selection with great surity than can be had with smoking alone. (for example 2 plants up for breeding are both excellent, to the point of being hard to choose. if analysis shows one is .5% stronger in all categories, mystery solved.)
-helping us growers choose the strains we'd like to grow!
-one thing I always wanted to do with access to Gas Chrom/Mass Spec, is to do several harvests spread out by one week(i.e harvest some at 8 wks, some at 9, some at 10), and have each batch analyzed to help find the best cut day. If you spread the cuts out over the period of trichs changing from mostly cloudy over to amber, the results of analysis could be very interesting. Great way to find the point of peak THC or CBD content for a strain...

Obviously these tests are not within reach of everyone. I didn't start this thread to have any measuring contests or potency battles. I'd just like to discuss the analysis objectively. Please keep that in mind.

Keep it Green
MGT

PS I'm no expert on this stuff, though I am well read on the topic. Feel free to note any necessary corrections, or alternatives I may be unaware of.

[Hash Zeppelin]

bump good thread start. i'll be back

also I would be very interested in seeing lvpk under a lab test. the strain has been floating around for like a decade, but still kicks everything else's ass imho. i just burned a bowl and am baked as a cake, and I have been smoking at least a gram a day plus of the stuff pretty exclusively for like 6 months now and it still does the trick.

Per the OP's request...

CBD predominates over THC in cannabis that grows wild (ditchweed) and plants grown for fiber (hemp). When plants are bred for psychoactivity CBD is replaced by THC because the same gene codes for one or the other cannabinoid. According to research done in Europe and Israel, CBD has anti-inflammatory, anti-convulsant, anti-psychotic, anti-oxidant, and neuroprotective properties. It also has a direct inhibitory effect on certain cancer cells.

Biologists at California Pacific Medical Center, Sean McAllister and Pierre Desprez, have determined that CBD inhibits breast cancer metastasis by suppressing a gene called Id-1. This winter they started working with mouse models of breast cancer, and if all goes well, they will be conducting clinical trial at CPMC in less than two years.

A British company, GW Pharmaceuticals, has developed a high-CBD strain that it mixes with a high-THC strain to make Sativex, a plant extract formulated for spraying under the tongue that has been approved in Canada and elsewhere to treat neuropathic pain. CBD evidently bolsters the pain-killing effects of THC while moderating its psychoactivity. In various studies, patients with severe pain have reported getting significantly more relief from Sativex, the mixture, than from GW's high-THC extract.

With a few notable exceptions the California cannabis samples tested to date have contained only trace amounts of CBD. The first notable exception exception occurred in late February when D.L. saw a spike on a computer-generated graph indicating a high level of CBD in one of the samples provided by Harborside. After some additional testing he confirmed that this strain, produced indoors in San Francisco, contained 4.2% CBD (and 8.9% THC) by weight.

DeAngelo promptly made arrangements with the grower to rev up production. Buds and clones from the strain of interest should be available at Harborside within months. "It would be immoral to try to hoard the genetic material," says Deangelo. As this story goes off to CounterPunch undetermined time 12, a second high-CBD strain has been identified, grown outdoors in Mendocino County. It is a little more than five percent CBD by weight.

Thus the medical marijuana movement/industry is entering a new stage. Growers will develop strains with higher CBD to THC ratios. Pro-cannabis doctors, who have long awaited high-CBD strains, are already planning rudimentary clinical trials to determine whether and in what ways high-CBD cannabis is beneficial.

Because CBD counters the anxiety induced by THC, a high-CBD strain might prove palatable to many people who dislike the way marijuana makes them feel. High-CBD strains might also enable patients who need megadoses to ingest them while remaining functional. According to Jeffrey Hergenrather, MD, "Patients with certain cancers, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's Disease, seizure disorders... they all need to maintain a higher blood level of cannabinoids than is convenient with our high-THC strains. For them, development of a high-CBD strain could be a life or death matter."

Whatever the outcome of clinical trials involving CBD, the effort alone -the attempt to produce and evaluate less psychoactive strains of marijuans- will refute the image of stoners paying lip-service to medical use that has tarnished the industry. And if and when the effectiveness of high-CBD cannabis in treating, say, rheumatoid arthritis, can be established, a wave of older Californians will be asking their doctors if cannabis is right for them

[MyGreenToe]

If anyone has had anything tested, feel free to post up the results here, along with the strain name and where it came from(cut/seed/seed from where, etc).

[bigbag]

GC/MS is a highly analytical device capable of measuring down to 1/1000000 of a decimal place. Just to properly calibrate it, pretty much takes a PhD...

[Hash Zeppelin]

^ lol,

[tSoG]

so, where does one get these sort of tests done?

[Mr.Tortoise]

Finding the cannabinoid profile of samples could be easily done, as there are many labs that can do it. I am in Canada and here it is illegal for any lab to be in possession of cannabis without authorization. However there are labs that will and are doing it. Pharmaceutical companies are very actively investigating cannabiniods, they are just doing so very quietly and not publishing their results. I think that is the problem, the work is being done just no one is talking about what they are finding. If government allowed any lab to handle cannabis for testing purposes it would be very easy and really not that expensive to do it. Maybe a little out of reach of the average person but definitely feasible for a dispensary. In terms of testing to help breeding I don't think it would really help produce the "optimum strain" for everyone. I think it would definitely help find other cannabiniods that may have different effects in medical applications and how they effect the "high". I feel we are really good at breeding the "ideal" strain. Just need to find the right plants for you.

Breeding CBD back into medical strains should not be that hard. If it is a co-dominate trait then all you would need to do to get equal CBD to THC was cross a homozygous CBD plant to a homozygous THC plant. It really wouldn't be that hard to breed a line of plants homozygous for CBD (thats what hemp breeders are doing to get ride of THC). I just feel that since breeding is still risky adventure for most people, trying to keep CBD lines to do this just hasn't been a priority. As most people who use cannabis still use it for recreational purposes and just want to get "high" they are not as concerned if what they get has CBD in it. The fact that it is co-dominate means that if you try and breed using heterozygous plants some of the offspring will be homozygous for CBD which would not be good for growers. I think if you asked the growers on here if they would want to take that risk they would say no it is not worth it. I feel that many would be mighty pissed to have a beautiful frosty plant ready to harvest only to find out after trying it, that it only had CBD.

[ShroomDr]

Originally Posted by elmanito

Difference with a TLC test
There is a little mistake in the full cannabinoid fingerprint
CBG=CBD, CBC=CBG, CBD=CBC



Different Cannabinoids



Different terpene profile





Namaste

[ShroomDr]

I might as well add this too. This is analysis commissioned from AN, it's 20 pages. Im not really a fan of AN, ive tried 5-6 of their supplements without noticeably effect. Feel free to believe as much or as little based on who's $ is behind it.

I only have pictures of the first 4 pages, the last 8-10 i think are gas chromatography.
https://www.growersunderground.com/PhosphorusMyth.pdf