The emerging legal global cannabis industry is currently a patchwork of laws and regulations, with policies differing from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. However, one common component of regulated markets is the requirement that cannabis harvests be tested for contaminants. Most legal markets also require testing to determine various cannabinoid levels.
Cannabis testing serves an important role in the emerging legal cannabis industry, and is a concept that is non-existent in the unregulated market.
In regulated cannabis markets, testing results help determine if harvests are safe for human consumption, as well as provide insight into such things as THC levels and terpene profiles, which are very helpful for consumers and patients when they are making their purchasing decisions.
A study from 2023 examined contamination rates for regulated and unregulated cannabis products in Canada. Canada legalized cannabis for adult-use in 2018, the first G-7 nation to do so, and remains the largest nationwide legal cannabis commerce market on earth.
The study, which was published in the Journal of Cannabis Research, revealed a “striking contrast” in safety between the cannabis samples, with 92 percent of unregulated cannabis testing positive for numerous pesticides compared to just six percent of regulated products.
It is worth noting that regulated cannabis products, when determined to exceed contamination levels, are subjected to government-mandated recall efforts. The same is not true for contaminated products in the unregulated market.
“Chlorpyrifos, imidacloprid, and myclobutanil were measured in illicit samples at concentrations up to three orders of magnitude above the method LCL of 0.01 μg/g.” the study’s authors stated.
A recent analysis by The Business Research Company estimated that the global cannabis testing market was worth roughly $2.54 billion in 2023. The researchers also estimate that the size of the global cannabis testing market will rise to $3 billion by the end of this year.
“The cannabis testing market size is expected to see rapid growth in the next few years. It will grow to $6.05 billion in 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.1%.” The Business Research Company stated about its analysis.
“North America was the largest region in the cannabis testing market in 2023. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period.” the company also stated.