Minnesota opens 1st publicly funded lab to distinguish hemp from marijuana

Minnesota authorities have tapped a public testing lab to start evaluating the THC content of products sold as CBD.

The Midwest Regional Forensic Laboratory in Andover, north of Minneapolis, is a publicly funded lab that will test THC levels of CBD products sold in conventional retailers, the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune reported. The lab is the state’s first to do such testing.

There was no word how products would be chosen for testing.

Foresnic scientist Amanda Vukich told the newspaper that the lab previously had the ability to test whether products contained THC, but not how much THC, making it impossible in criminal cases to distinguish legal low-THC hemp products from illegal marijuana products.

“It’s up to the state to prove that (a defendant) had a controlled substance and not make them prove it was just hemp, it wasn’t marijuana,” she said.

The newspaper did not say whether the lab would be used to test THC level in hemp grown commercially in Minnesota.