Maine: from grower to shelf, what ends up on the label

Step by step: Maine

1. Step 1: Cultivation facility / harvest batch (Cultivation facility) A licensed cultivation facility harvests a batch and records it in Metrc, the inventory system the Office of Cannabis Policy runs from immature plant to sale. This is where the grower's license number, the harvest date and the batch ID that must later appear on the label come from.
2. Step 2: Three ways to take the sample (Sampler) Maine lets three people collect samples for mandatory testing: an employee of the testing facility, a separately licensed sample collector with no stake in any grower, manufacturer or store, or a self-sampling licensee following OCP's sampling procedure and Best Practices Guide. Self-samplers can be audited, and two or more failed audits can cost the license.
3. Step 3: Batch on hold (Cultivation facility) Once sampled, the batch is sealed in containers marked with the batch number and, in bold capitals, PRODUCT NOT TESTED. Batches above 10 kg of plant material, 5 kg of concentrate or 10,000 units must be split before sampling.
4. Step 4: Lab analysis (Testing facility) A testing facility certified by the Maine CDC and accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, whose owners may hold no interest in a grower, manufacturer or store, tests for filth and foreign material, residual solvents, pesticides, four metals (cadmium, lead, arsenic, mercury), total yeast and mold (mycotoxins only if that fails), harmful microbes including STEC and Salmonella, potency and homogeneity, and water activity in dried flower.
5. Step 5: Pass into Metrc (Testing facility) Within one business day of its final quality-control review the lab enters pass in Metrc and the batch is released. A failure goes to OCP and the licensee. A licensee may ask for one potency retest from the same sample, and the label must then use the retest value.
6. Step 6: Fail: retest, fix or destroy (OCP) Within 30 days the licensee must retest (two new samples to the same lab, and both must pass), remediate or destroy the batch, or OCP can order destruction. Pesticide and heavy-metal failures can never be remediated, and a batch that passed may not be retested to improve its results. OCP publishes quarterly fail rates.
7. Step 7: Package + label (Packager) Packaging is child-resistant and tamper-evident, or goes into such an exit package at sale. The marketing layer carries the license numbers of the grower and manufacturer, the Metrc ID of the batch that was tested, the words Passed mandatory testing, the production date, net weight, cannabinoid content from the COA, the warning and the red-outlined CONTAINS THC triangle on the front.
8. Step 8: Cannabis store sale (Cannabis store) The store adds its own license number to the marketing layer before the item goes in an exit package, and sells to adults 21+. Edibles are capped at 10 mg THC per serving and 200 mg per package, with the symbol on each serving where practical; gummies carry it on the package instead.