This is huge. Being willing is one thing, but knowing when and where and how to show up is key. @Cassin any email lists or accounts to follow for opportunities to provide comment on these issues? I will sign up while I am sitting in the Trinity County Board chambers tomorrow for most of the day . . . . actually typing this while on the prep call for that meeting. Showing up is time consuming . . . excruciatingly so.
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Of course. Its part of the ASTM D37 committee week meetings. Anyone can attend the event and provide comments. Its at the OMNI hotel. You have to be a member to vote - membership comes with a copy of all the standards for your committee (there are quite a few).
The current sub-committee chairās name is Alena - sheās amazing and has been fighting the good fight with me and many others for about a decade to get things standardized that also are functional. The sub-committee for this is D37.03 Laboratory
You should come. Sadly, I will be joining remotely as Iām having surgery on Friday so Iāll be in recovery. But you better bet Iāll be on those calls - listening to what people have to say.
And so much happens ābehind the scenesā with voting on standards, test methods, guidance, and the like. The voting is for real - its consensus standards and if you disagree they have to listen to you OR convince like 75% of all the other people to agree that your negative doesnāt have merit (which I havenāt actually seen except when people say things like, this is dumb I donāt like itā¦instead actually having a reason why!).
Its probably one of the best groups Iāve been a part of. I joined some years ago now and learning and watching how standards are made for all kinds of thingsā¦ not just cannabis! but all kinds of things. Wow.
I sat in on a standards meeting for the changing of a new pipe lining standard for pipe fitters. The discourse! It felt like I was talking to people hereā¦ I mean everyone was there, pipe fitters, scientists, inspectors, people who care about pipes in their homes and buildingsā¦ and they were all negotiating how to safely make a change to the standard to allow new technology! Just wow. <3
You should go - its in Louisville, and it starts on Sunday. Let me know if you need more information.
Hmmm. Let me think on this. Obviously, I follow Future (so much content!) but Iām also active with the following groupsā¦ and so I follow all their stuff, which often leads to other stuff. But this is what I do basically every day - you know? Iām responsible for making sure my customers are compliant! And for fighting to make things easier for them. Haha - so its a lot of reading. There is an organization that used to be called CannaRegs, but is now part of Fyllo - and Iām not even sure that you can still use the service (but wow it was fucking awesomeā¦). It literally used to post all the cannabis related stuff from the local, state, and federal levels! Not kidding.
But yeah - here are the organizations I follow. 
National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA)
Americans for Safe Access (ASA)
International American Standards and Test Methods (ASTM)
Hemp Industry News (and its Cannabis Affliate)
SCOTUS
FDA
DCC
OLCC
MOCann
CCIA
MiCIA
CO MED
Safer Michigan (my favorite listserv!)
Probably I get the most information fromā¦ here, and Safer, and I follow the others via social and emails direct from those groups as a stakeholder. Its probably around 15 to 50 emails per day (depending on whatās going on in the industry!) and sometimes it gets deeper.
I also have two NIH specific crawlers that are constantly looking at PubMed for anything that mentions cannabinoids, cannabis, hemp, or marijuana. So I can always see new things coming out. And now that I do that - I have started reaching out to scientists directly to ask about what they are working on and link them with other people I am already working with. Thatās definitely a little bit of joy right there.
Hope that helps! <3
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Thank you for all this relevant info!
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Cass is a treasure.
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For all the CA operators out there, are there any labs that are known for providing LEGIT, good data? Not the highest numbers, but the most consistent and reliable.
Curious to hear about your experiences.
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Personally I like Josh with iCal. I use him across two states - and his teams work always seems to jive with my internal work. He is also open to criticism when I think something isnāt quite right AND heāll add new methods for new products when Iām doing R&D.
Iāve used some others - but Iāve been able to use Joshās team across multiple states at this point which I really appreciate.
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Second for Infinite, hands down the best lab Iāve worked with. Really the only lab who I trust and when there is an issue it is dealt with exceptionally. They were one of the only labs not inflating potency to get customers.
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