Good Production Practices for Medical Marihuana

Working in quality assurance for medical marihuana production facilities requires an in-depth knowledge of Health Canada’s guidelines for good production practices. As medical marihuana continues to expand as an industry, there is more and more need for professionals who have taken quality assurance courses, specializing in medical marihuana production. Read on to discover today’s standards for producing medical marihuana, and how a quality assurance department helps maintain these standards.

Premises

Every medical marihuana production facility in Canada must be licensed by Health Canada in order to legally grow medical marihuana under Marihuana for Medicinal Purposes Regulations (MMPR). The sizes of medical marihuana production facilities varies, but many today have the capability to produce up to 4,000kg of medical marihuana a year. In order to be in accordance with Health Canada guidelines, medical marihuana production facilities (like any industrial facility) must be set 70 metres away from any residential area, school area or daycare, and be spaced at least 100 metres away from any agricultural buildings.

Equipment

Every production facility is required to have laboratory testing equipment, and even calibration equipment to ensure their measurements are accurate. Although every production facility is required to have their own quality assurance manager and testing equipment, growers are still required to send their product for off-site testing.

As of 2013, Health Canada requires larger medical marihuana growing operations to install odour-reducing equipment in their facilities. Graduates of quality assurance programs have the duty of ensuring that a medical marihuana growing facility complies with these Health Canada equipment regulations.

Sanitation

Canada has some of the strictest quality control standards in the world, and the medical marihuana production industry is no exception. Workers in production plants wear polyethylene suits, hair nets, gloves and face masks. In some facilities, regulations may require employees to change these garments entirely when moving from room to room.

Even the packaging of the product is very precise. Guidelines issue that medical marihuana be secured in an odour-sealed, childproof package which is also designed in a way that guarantees to keep the product fresh.

Record Keeping and Documentation

While every medical marihuana facility must keep internal documents about their product and their production activity, experts in medical marihuana quality assurance careers must also maintain their own records. Records should include data from quality control inspections and a daily inventory of medical marihuana product. Every production facility also has security records via video surveillance. A new medical marihuana production facility in Aurora, Alberta recently stated that their facility has 154 security cameras around their premises, monitoring the product 24 hours a day.

Facilities must also keep good records on their transactions with client, including the sales, shipping, transportation and distribution practices. Canadian law currently states that these records must be kept for up to two years.

Are you interested in working for the quality assurance department of a medical marihuana production facility?