Let’s Learn About Cannabis Storage!

I’ve written a lot about how prohibition stunted cannabis research and science. We’ve discussed quite a few areas that remain severely under-researched. While researchers are gaining access to our favorite plant and exploring questions we’ve long had, we still have a lot of questions around storage and preservation — especially at the consumer level.

For Sure This is Not a Good Storage Solution. Or Packaging Solution. Image Source: Author.

This is really disappointing, given the known volatility of things like terpenes and cannabinoids — it’s important for us to be able to store these beautiful flowers!

The Initial Studies

A key paper in the field is one that was written in 1976 by J. W. Fairbairn, J. A. Liebmann, and M. G. Rowan, from London. For their study, they used fine ground and coarse ground flower from cannabis plants they grew in addition to resin (hash). They were looking specifically for information about light, as they had found prior research in the area lacking. This might explain why, unfortunately, while they tracked what happened to cannabinoids in light vs. dark at room temperature with a refrigerated control for the flower — they did not subject a refrigerated control to light. This which makes their results regarding the deleterious effect of light on cannabis feel incomplete, as there is definite knowledge gap about storing cannabis at temperatures warmer than freezing.