The popularity of cannabinoids has increased, and many companies are filling the demand for such products. With the increased number of suppliers comes products that are used for consumption. Many products on the market have some form of testing to ensure the product is acceptable for use, although many companies get bare bones testing which does not test for uncommon contaminants that can cause harm to the human body during smoking/inhalation. The cannabinoid market is unregulated and is up to reputable companies to set a standard that will ensure clean cannabinoid products. While several reports of cannabinoids consider their efficacy, safety is a lesser amount of well-described. General evaluation of the safety of cannabinoid-based medicines is inaccurate due to misunderstanding of recreational cannabis use as well as different study strategies, indications, dosing, and administration protocols. Many of the cannabinoids have similar retention times and UV absorbance, making it difficult to distinguish isomers. LC/MS, GC/MS, and NMR are some alternative techniques to use in the characterization of cannabinoids.

Conversion of CBD and their analogs to D8-THC is not a natural process and many isomers formed are not naturally occurring. There are both legal questions and consumer safety issues arising from these unknown contaminants.

We want to test various companies’ cannabinoid products that include crude, and distilled products of THC, HHC, and THCP, products popular with consumers, against in-vitro lung cell lines, to mimic the absorption of these products during inhalation within the lungs. Due to unregulated markets, and high-quality/low-quality products being sold, we can help companies and consumers realize that having clean products is pertinent to staying competitive.