Written by Grant Robertson & Greg McArthur for The Globe and Mail.
In an effort to examine the safety and efficacy of products sold at illegal marijuana dispensaries, which have multiplied across Canada in recent months, The Globe and Mail subjected several edible cannabis products to tests at a Health Canada-accredited laboratory to determine if they were properly labelled.
Four out of the five products The Globe and Mail had tested were well below the THC amounts claimed: A cake pop purported to contain 80 milligrams of THC had one-fifth that amount; a peanut-butter caramel bar labelled as having 260 mg contained about half that; and a freezie claimed to have 60 mg actually contained less than a third. Meanwhile, a small bottle of cannabis extract claimed to have 900 mg of THC had slightly less than one-half that amount, the tests showed.
Only a flavoured syrup intended to be added to drinks came close to the 500 mg listed on the bottle.
Mislabelled products can lead to toxicity problems if the THC is too high, and labelling products as more potent than they are could lead to consumers buying fraudulent merchandise.