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Over the years I have seen so little available in terms of places to get tests done, the credibility of these tests and even the testing labs being questioned, sometimes with good reason. In light of a few recent threads I will share my recent journey into this world.
A couple of years ago I started considering adding and HPLC rig to my office. There is nothing even close to this service available here and as far as I have learned, Guadalajara is the closest place to get testing done. All these labs charge what I consider exorbitant fees for single sample testing by individuals, not businesses. Especially considering some of these labs aren't certificated or accredited. There are little consumables used and the main cost of operating these machines is maintenance and manpower. The further complication is that in the USA, the FDA and DEA has considered these tests to be a sort of de-facto QC for illegal drug labs, which is the whole reason San Rafael got shut down. So we have to send our stuff to Eastern Europe, which logistically is a nightmare. I have samples sent from both Mexico and USA that are looking to be months into getting to their destination. So I figure that from the USA to Mexico I could receive samples pretty quick and easy, especially if my lab is certificated, which I plan to do eventually.
So I had been watching the prices of used machines for a couple of years and was watching the prices drop. Then a funny thing happened. The cannabis industry started getting more widespread and actually booming, with absolute detailed analysis of each product available. I had specifically been looking at Agilent 1100s and some genius saw the need and created a software called "Cannabis Methods" to use with these machines instead of the proprietary ChemStation used prior. Th prices went back up and when they seemed to plateau, I bought a machine. Then this whole lockdown thing happened. I was unable to get to San Diego to collect the machine and importing it was cost prohibitive. I have been spending months trying to figure something out and finally I went up there first week of June to sort it out. During this time the forums start blowing up with all this testing chatter. Everyone is blaming everyone. Even the labs are getting flamed. This turned out to be fortuitous for me because rather than stress out more about paying massive import fees and the logistics of getting the machine here, I sold the system back to the company and took a loss of a "restock fee".
I just don't know why I would want to bother with offering these services. I had tentatively planned to charge only $50usd per sample to individual users and $100usd to labs wanting an official report shared on a link for the testing lab's website. While I loved the idea of making testing widely available and more accessible, I don't relish dealing with the bullshit that apparently comes with it.
If a guy sends me a sample, I run the sample he gives me, print the chromatogram and it's interpretation and populate a standard lab analysis repot. That's it. But if a shitstorm follows my diligence, why would I bother? I wouldn't know what is being sent nor would I care. Either sent in a sealed "welded" vial or in an HPLC test vial, I would have absolutely no way of knowing what I was getting. Unless I bought the stuff directly from a website, there would be no way I could say if something was legit or not. I could only state what the sample analysis was.
A report is easily manipulated. A test, performed properly, not so much. All any of you need to do to see this is to sit in on an HPLC run and you'd know this.
There are a couple forum guys who have expressed an interest in coming down on vacation and I had hoped to have them run a test on their stuff while visiting. I even made a prominent place in my office for the machine. But it looks like that ain't going to happen now.
A couple of years ago I started considering adding and HPLC rig to my office. There is nothing even close to this service available here and as far as I have learned, Guadalajara is the closest place to get testing done. All these labs charge what I consider exorbitant fees for single sample testing by individuals, not businesses. Especially considering some of these labs aren't certificated or accredited. There are little consumables used and the main cost of operating these machines is maintenance and manpower. The further complication is that in the USA, the FDA and DEA has considered these tests to be a sort of de-facto QC for illegal drug labs, which is the whole reason San Rafael got shut down. So we have to send our stuff to Eastern Europe, which logistically is a nightmare. I have samples sent from both Mexico and USA that are looking to be months into getting to their destination. So I figure that from the USA to Mexico I could receive samples pretty quick and easy, especially if my lab is certificated, which I plan to do eventually.
So I had been watching the prices of used machines for a couple of years and was watching the prices drop. Then a funny thing happened. The cannabis industry started getting more widespread and actually booming, with absolute detailed analysis of each product available. I had specifically been looking at Agilent 1100s and some genius saw the need and created a software called "Cannabis Methods" to use with these machines instead of the proprietary ChemStation used prior. Th prices went back up and when they seemed to plateau, I bought a machine. Then this whole lockdown thing happened. I was unable to get to San Diego to collect the machine and importing it was cost prohibitive. I have been spending months trying to figure something out and finally I went up there first week of June to sort it out. During this time the forums start blowing up with all this testing chatter. Everyone is blaming everyone. Even the labs are getting flamed. This turned out to be fortuitous for me because rather than stress out more about paying massive import fees and the logistics of getting the machine here, I sold the system back to the company and took a loss of a "restock fee".
I just don't know why I would want to bother with offering these services. I had tentatively planned to charge only $50usd per sample to individual users and $100usd to labs wanting an official report shared on a link for the testing lab's website. While I loved the idea of making testing widely available and more accessible, I don't relish dealing with the bullshit that apparently comes with it.
If a guy sends me a sample, I run the sample he gives me, print the chromatogram and it's interpretation and populate a standard lab analysis repot. That's it. But if a shitstorm follows my diligence, why would I bother? I wouldn't know what is being sent nor would I care. Either sent in a sealed "welded" vial or in an HPLC test vial, I would have absolutely no way of knowing what I was getting. Unless I bought the stuff directly from a website, there would be no way I could say if something was legit or not. I could only state what the sample analysis was.
A report is easily manipulated. A test, performed properly, not so much. All any of you need to do to see this is to sit in on an HPLC run and you'd know this.
There are a couple forum guys who have expressed an interest in coming down on vacation and I had hoped to have them run a test on their stuff while visiting. I even made a prominent place in my office for the machine. But it looks like that ain't going to happen now.
