As prospects for legalized cannabis improve, equipment suppliers and gatekeepers of compendial standards must play catch-up to develop sample preparation methods suitable not only for this unique market, but also regulators.

Activity in sample prep will closely track instrumental methods as they emerge or are introduced. Although liquid chromatography (LC) and mass spectrometry (MS) will likely
become the workhorses of cannabis testing, the field is ripe for innovation in instrumentation, which will directly affect how sample prep is carried out. For example, cannabis analyzers have been developed using mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectroscopy that are portable, easy to use, and provide cannabinoid and terpene profiles within two minutes.