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Published:
Journal of Analytical Toxicology,
ISSN 0146-4760,
Volume 25,
Number 8, November/December, pp. 691-698
Evaluating the Impact of Hemp Food Consumption on Workplace
Drug Tests
Gero Leson and Petra Pless
Leson Environmental Consulting, P.O. Box 10075, Berkeley, California 94709
Franjo Grotenhermen
Nova Institute, Goldenbergstraße 2, 50354 Hürth, Germany
Harold Kalant
ARF Division of Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Department of Pharmacology,
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A8, Canada
Mahmoud A. ElSohly
ElSohly Laboratories, Inc., 5 Industrial Park Drive, Oxford, Mississippi 38655
Foods containing seeds or oil of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa
L.) are increasingly found in retail stores in the U.S. The presence of Ð9-tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC) in these foods has raised concern over their impact on the results of
workplace drug tests for marijuana. Previous studies have shown that eating
hemp foods can cause screening and confirmed positive results in urine specimens.
This study evaluated the impact of extended daily ingestion of THC via hemp
oil on urine levels of its metabolite 11-nor-9-carboxy-Ð9-tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC-COOH) for four distinct daily THC doses. Doses were representative of THC
levels now commonly found in hemp seed products and a range of conceivable daily
consumption rates. Fifteen THC-naïve adults ingested, over four successive
10-day periods, single daily THC doses ranging from 0.09 to 0.6 mg. Subjects
self-administered THC in 15-mL aliquots (20 mL for the 0.6-mg dose) of four
different blends of hemp and canola oils. Urine specimens were collected prior
to the first ingestion of oil, on days 9 and 10 of each of the four study periods,
and 1 and 3 days after the last ingestion. All specimens were screened for cannabinoids
by radioimmunoassay (Immunalysis Direct RIA Kit), confirmed for THC-COOH by
gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GCMS), and analyzed for creatinine
to identify dilute specimens. None of the subjects who ingested daily doses
of 0.45 mg of THC screened positive at the 50-ng/mL cutoff. At a daily THC dose
of 0.6 mg, one specimen screened positive. The highest THC-COOH level found
by GCMS in any of the specimens was 5.2 ng/mL, well below the 15-ng/mL
confirmation cutoff used in federal drug testing programs. A THC intake of 0.6
mg/day is equivalent to the consumption of approximately 125 mL of hemp oil
containing 5 µg/g of THC or 300 g of hulled seeds at 2 µg/g. These
THC concentrations are now typical in Canadian hemp seed products. Based on
our findings, these concentrations appear to be sufficiently low to prevent
confirmed positives from the extended and extensive consumption of hemp foods.
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