Angie Pearson

Mr. Ippolito

Forensics D Odd 

Current Event 19

Eaton, Emilie. “Behind the Scenes: How Bexar County Will Test the Difference between Hemp and Pot.” ExpressNews.com, Express-News, 25 Feb. 2020, www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Bexar-County-may-be-the-first-in-Texas-to-15084427.php

Texas recently legalized hemp, which made it difficult to press charges in certain marijuana-related drug crimes. Bexar County’s crime lab will possibly become the first in Texas to test the difference between hemp and marijuana. However, in order to tell the two apart, more technically advanced testing equipment has to be used, which was not readily available until now. For now, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales announced that there would be no pressed charges for the possession of small amounts of marijuana until the testing problem was solved. Previously, In order to tell whether a sample had any THC, labs used to do a chemical test that only took minutes to look for cannabinoids and characteristic hairs that are present on hemp and marijuana plants. But due to the new hemp law, labs now must extract THC from the sample and determine the exact amount of the present, which will require new testing procedures. Previously, to determine the concentration of a substance, a machine would expose the drugs to a high level of heat. However, with cannabis plants, this does not work. THCA is the raw substance that does not cause a high, which is the substance found in hemp. But, THCA converts to THC when it is dried and heated, making the old test useless due to the new hemp law. Bexar County invested in a machine that sets a specific temperature that would not change the THCA into THC. The new equipment can test for all kinds of marijuana, such as oils, wax, and edibles.

This could be beneficial for not only the new laws but also farmers who can now make a profit off of hemp. With the new procedures and machines, fewer people will be charged with drug crimes, which they could have been wrongfully accused of before, especially when the old procedures of using high heat changed THCA to THC.

I enjoyed reading this article. It was quite informative and summarized the topic well. I especially liked how the article explained how the old procedures would simply not work with the new hemp law. However, one weakness was that it did not include how the new machines and procedures worked, which could have strengthened the article.