Pennsylvania: from grower to patient, what proves it is safe

Step by step: Pennsylvania

1. Step 1: Harvest batch at the grower (Grower/processor) One of 33 operating grower/processors harvests a batch and logs it in the state's seed-to-sale system. Staff must visually inspect plants and harvested material for visible mold, mildew, pests or rot, and may only process material free of seeds, stems, dirt and debris. Even the strain name is pre-approved by the Department of Health.
2. Step 2: The laboratory comes and cuts the sample (Approved laboratory) An employee of an approved laboratory drives to the facility and collects the sample in person, at harvest and again before the finished product goes to a dispensary. A sample the grower pulls itself is not a valid test: only material "identified and collected by an employee of an approved laboratory" counts. The department deleted the grower-sampling option from its own draft in 2023.
3. Step 3: Eight test categories (Approved laboratory) One of six approved laboratory locations runs all eight required categories: pesticides, solvents, water activity and moisture, THC and CBD, microbial contaminants, terpenes, heavy metals and mycotoxins, to the American Herbal Pharmacopeia 2014 monograph. PCR is banned as a microbial method; everything is plated and counted. Pesticides are screened at harvest only, and only on random batches.
4. Step 4: The certificate you never see (Approved laboratory) The laboratory issues its certificate of analysis to the grower/processor, and results "shall only be accessible to the grower/processor submitting the sample and to the Department." Not the dispensary, not the patient. A failed batch is auto-quarantined; one retest is allowed, then destruction, unless it failed only for yeast or mold, which may be extracted into a topical labeled as remediated.
5. Step 5: The state approves the label first (Department of Health) The grower must obtain the prior written approval of the Department for all packaging and every word of the label. The department sets 18 label requirements, and bans any "seal, flag, crest, coat of arms or other insignia" that might suggest state endorsement, plus cartoons and food-brand lookalikes.
6. Step 6: Package and label (Grower/processor packaging) The batch goes into a child-resistant, tamper-evident, resealable container, opaque unless it is dry leaf. The label carries ten cannabinoids and every terpene above 0.0% as percentages, the batch identifier, the packaging and expiration dates, three warnings, and the employee ID numbers of whoever packed and shipped it.
7. Step 7: Dispensary and patient (Dispensary) One of 196 dispensaries adds the patient identification number, never the patient's name, plus the clerk's number and the process lot number, and hands over a safety insert written and approved by the department. Cannabis may not be smoked in Pennsylvania, and no licensed company may sell an edible.