Standardization News

Q. Your background is interesting, as you’ve held positions with both the Addictions, Drug, and Alcohol Institute at the University of Washington and the U.S. CDC, among others. How did you come to work in your current position with CANNRA and on cannabis policy in general?

A. I worked in tobacco control and tobacco policy for a number of years before coming to cannabis policy. After working in the research department of a tobacco cessation quit-line provider in the Seattle area and getting a master’s in public health at the University of Washington in the evenings, I moved to Atlanta to start a Ph.D. program in behavioral science and public health at Emory University. I was able to continue work I’d been doing in tobacco cessation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention while working on my Ph.D.

I became very interested in cannabis use in young adults who were using tobacco, particularly in whether co-use of tobacco and cannabis was increasing among adults and the reasons people used both (e.g,. were they complements or substitutes). I was writing my dissertation on that topic when Washington State and Colorado voted to legalize adult use of cannabis. I quickly got support from my office at the CDC to explore the issue for the agency and start to assess what the potential public health and policy implications might be from changing cannabis policy. I eventually moved over to the CDC Foundation as a senior cannabis consultant, where I started a learning collaborative for state health officers to help state public health agencies identify and collect data that was needed to understand the implications of legalization, share emerging best practices, and collaborate.

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When the vaping lung injury (VALI) outbreak happened in 2019 and sickened people who were using e-cigarettes and vaping products, I started having state cannabis regulators join my calls along with their state health officers, and the regulators became very interested in the structure I was creating for state health officers to collaborate on this issue. Regulators had been working to build something similar on the regulatory side and approached me about helping them develop an association. I spent a couple of years consulting with individual states while the Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA) went from an idea to a reality, and then I was hired on – first part time, and then eventually full time – as the first executive director of CANNRA in 2021. I am proud of what CANNRA has become in a short time. We are a government-only association and convene, educate, and support government agencies involved in cannabis, cannabinoid, and hemp regulation across more than 45 states and U.S. territories, Canada, the Netherlands, Albania, and Malta.     

Q. The cannabis industry has changed a lot in the last 10 or 20 years. What are some of the biggest changes and developments you’ve seen during your time in the industry?

A. A few big issues come to mind for me that need to be in focus for public health and safety and the future of the industry.

Cannabinoid hemp: Both marijuana and hemp come from the Cannabis sativa L. plant, and both marijuana and hemp can be used to make products that contain cannabinoids, including psychoactive and psychotropic cannabinoids like THC. Yet marijuana remains federally illegal and cannot be sold across state lines or purchased with a credit card, while cannabinoid hemp products are not subject to federal regulation and can be sold online and across state lines in most states. This has created confusion for regulators and consumers, and figuring out a path forward will be important for consumer safety and the success of both industries.

Consumer safety: Because of the federal designation of cannabis, state statutes have generally called for regulators to license third-party testing labs within the state to test cannabis products for safety. State labs have not been able to be the primary testing labs both due to capacity challenges and to concerns about legality. Licensed, third-party labs are generally restricted to working within the state and have state cannabis licensees as their customers. This structure can create compliance challenges and incentivize some operators and labs to cut corners. But a growing number of states have established or are working to establish state reference labs that can be a huge support to regulators in understanding testing inconsistencies and for use in investigations that might lead to recalls or enforcement action. As more states have reference labs, states are sharing information about how to leverage them to support testing, inspection, and investigation.

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Prioritizing patients: As state legalization programs expand beyond medical cannabis programs, it is important to continue to understand what is working for patients scientifically, and what patients want and need in medical cannabis. Communicating with patients about the level of regulation of different cannabinoid products and their potential effects is an ongoing challenge. A number of states are engaging in patient listening sessions and patient surveys to ensure that a changing marketplace increases patient access and safety rather than decreases it. In most states, patients were the reason cannabis policies began to change, so keeping patients in focus and continuing to work with patients and clinicians to ensure programs deliver appropriate, safe, accessible products is important.

Q. What specific standards are needed most in order to address those issues moving forward? How will standards help advance the industry?

A. Standards are needed in virtually every area right now, given that this is a new industry. And while a number of standards exist through the committee on cannabis (D37) and through other standard-development organizations, existing standards will need to be revised frequently as products and the industry evolve and as we learn more about the science. To be the most effective, standards should be developed collaboratively by regulators, researchers, industry stakeholders, and public health and safety groups. Standards also need to recognize the current landscape for cannabis – which in the U.S. is one where cannabinoid regulatory policy exists largely at the state and territorial level. But with cannabinoid hemp products available across the U.S. and with more countries legalizing it, standards are essential to create a base level of consumer safety across jurisdictions.

Q. How is CANNRA helping governments to coordinate in the regulatory space and how can this support standards development?

A. CANNRA was founded with a primary mission to convene, educate, and support governments involved in cannabis, cannabinoid, and hemp regulation and policy implementation. We have a network that includes over 1,000 regulators and government officials. Those individuals meet to share insights and work on best practices through more than a dozen different committees we support that span the range of regulatory issues in cannabis and hemp. We provide educational webinars and bring regulators together in person twice a year – once in a government only setting, and once with stakeholders. Taken together, all of that helps us understand where best practices are emerging, and where there are implementation challenges on the ground in terms of policy. That information is vital to feed into the standards-development process so standards can be rooted in what’s been learned and what’s working already, and so they can be developed in a way that facilitates implementation.

Q. What would you say to an early career professional considering not only joining ASTM – but entering the field of cannabis research and policy in general?

A. Cannabis is a dynamic and exciting field, and we need all the smart minds we can get thinking about the path forward. For early career professionals, this is literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be involved in the formation of a new industry, and standards will play an essential role in ensuring that public health and consumer safety are in focus as that industry develops. As a researcher, I believe strongly in hearing all perspectives and ideas. I think the best coalition is a broad and diverse coalition where people who have different training and different perspectives are all in the same place, discussing the path forward. So whether you work in the industry or you are a researcher, regulator, clinician, patient, advocate, or public health and safety professional – your engagement in developing cannabis and cannabinoid standards is vital.

ASTM International is a not-for-profit nongovernmental organization that develops voluntary consensus standards and defers to appropriate government authorities to determine the legal and regulatory framework regarding the control and use of cannabis. ●

David Walsh is ASTM's Content Director and the Editor in Chief of Standardization News.

Gillian L. Schauer is executive director of the Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA). She received the B.S. degree from Northwestern University; the M.P.H. degree from the University of Washington School of Public Health; and the Ph.D. in behavioral science and health education from Emory University.