Arkansas: from grow to dispensary, what the label has to show

Step by step: Arkansas

1. Step 1: Batches of 10 lb or less (Cultivation facility) A cultivation facility splits each harvest lot into batches of no more than ten pounds, each with a unique batch number that is never reused and is kept on record for two years. Every package of usable marijuana is tagged with a unique identification number in the state’s BioTrack-run tracking system, ARSTEMS. This is where the label’s producer name, ID, strain and harvest date come from.
2. Step 2: Only lab employees sample (Approved laboratory) Before sampling, the facility gives the lab a written request for each test and says whether the batch is a resample after a failure. Then only people employed by a laboratory may take samples, on site or after the facility brings the batch in, totaling at least 0.5% of the batch, from flower that has been cured, under chain-of-custody rules.
3. Step 3: Department of Health approved lab (Approved laboratory) The lab must be accredited by NIDA, NELAC, ISO or a similar body and approved by the Department of Health for marijuana testing. Before any sale to a patient, each batch is tested for pesticides, water activity and moisture, THC and CBD, and four heavy metals: arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury. Harvest lots are also screened for coliforms, then E. coli.
4. Step 4: Results and failure reports (Approved laboratory) The label’s THC and CBD must be the values calculated by the lab that tested it, with that lab’s name, test batch number and analysis date. A lab must report every failed test except water activity to the Department within 24 hours of finishing its data review, even while it reanalyzes, and never after it tells the grower or dispensary.
5. Step 5: Fail: reanalyze, then a second lab (Department of Health) If a sample fails, the lab that tested it may reanalyze it. If the reanalysis passes, a different laboratory must resample the batch and confirm that result before the batch passes. A batch that fails for pesticides cannot be remediated and must be destroyed as the Commission approves, and the Department reports every pesticide failure to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture.
6. Step 6: Package + label (Cultivation facility) The container shows the producer’s name and facility number, the unique ID, harvest date, strain, net weight in US and metric units, THC and CBD, an activation time in words or a pictogram, and the testing lab’s details. The Department’s universal symbol goes on the principal display panel, at least 0.48 by 0.35 inches, and three required warnings are added.
7. Step 7: Dispensary check (Dispensary) A dispensary may not accept or sell usable marijuana that was not sampled and tested under the rules, and it can also arrange sampling itself for batches it receives from a grower. Any product whose label falls short must be returned or disposed of, with the recipient, item and date documented, before it reaches a registered patient.