Ensuring Cannabis Safety for the Aloha State - PharmLabs LLC expansion into the State of Hawaii
Maui, HI – PharmLabs Hawaii LLC, the newest addition to the PharmLabs LLC family is proud to soon be offering the Hawaiian cannabis community, ISO 17025 accredited laboratory testing that is fully compliant with the State of Hawaii’s Medical Marijuana Dispensary Program. PharmLabs LLC announced today that it is expanding services to the Hawaiian Islands with services available starting November 15th, 2016. PharmLabs officials commented that “PharmLabs Hawaii will provide services on Oahu, Maui, Hawaii and Kauai which are all of the four islands participating in the Medical Marijuana Dispensary Program”. PharmLabs Hawaii will test all forms of cannabis for potency, terpenes, residual solvents, microbiological contaminations, heavy metals and pesticides.
PharmLabs Hawaii LLC Laboratory Director is DR. William A. English. Dr. William English is an Oahu resident brings twenty years of analytical chemistry experience to the Hawaii pharmacology testing market. Will’s first job as an analytical chemist was modifying old HP GC-FID’s to test for atmospheric pollutants in remote locations. After graduate school he joined the US Army as a biochemist. His first assignment was at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense where he was a primary investigator studying organophosphate poisoning in biological matrices. He quickly was promoted to the position of Chief of the NeuroBehavioral Toxicology Branch. Will supervised eight senior scientists and over 40 technicians as they tackled the issues around chemically induced neuro-crisis.
After a fun and exciting year in Afghanistan Will decided that he never wanted to be cold again and put in for a transfer to Hawaii at the Tripler Forensic Toxicology Drug Testing Laboratory.
At the Tripler Forensic Toxicology Drug Testing Laboratory Will was initially assigned as the Chief of Confirmation where he was responsible for the Extractions, GCMS, and LCMS sections. Will left active duty in 2013 and in 2014 took the Technical Director position at the same laboratory. During his time at the drug lab Will developed and validated the hydrocodone/hydromorphone and benzodiazepine GCMS test. He also brought major changes to the MDA/MDMA test procedure.
Will is excited to utilize all his prior 20 years of knowledge and experience in the laboratory to legitimize the cannabis industry by ensuring fast and accurate laboratory testing for the purity and potency of cannabis and all cannabis related products. Will is also eager to conduct research and studies involving cannabis that can help unlock some questions the scientific community has.
PharmLabs Hawaii LLC main laboratory and headquarters is on Maui in Kahului on Hookele St. right behind Home Depot and the new Target they are currently building. Equipment is being installed and calibrated the week of September 26th so the lab should be up and operational shortly. PharmLabs Hawaii is in process of a narcotics license, DEA license and final approval with the State of Hawaii Department of Public Health
The expansion of PharmLabs to Hawaii will permit medical cannabis patients in Hawaii access to safe medicines ensuring the health of the consumers. Soon to open State-Licensed Dispensaries will be armed with necessary testing services to be able to provide their patients with clean, safe and appropriately dosed medicine. Using testing standards made to comply with the Hawaii Administrative Rules of Title 11, Chapter 850 for the Medical Marijuana Dispensary Program, PharmLabs is synonymous with safety, compliance and accuracy.
PharmLabs opened its first cannabis laboratory in San Diego, 2011. PharmLabs is owned & operated by native Californian Greg Magdoff. It has enjoyed nearly 6 years of continuous success, growth and achievement in the community and cannabis industry. PharmLabs was one of the first ISO 17025 certified cannabis labs in the United States and has received proficiency ring testing gold badges of +/- 2% in Potency and Residual Solvent testing from Emerald Scientific.
Known for its use of compostable materials, recycling and proper disposals of hazardous waste materials, the company also intends to maintain its commitment to environmentally friendly business practices and uphold its promise to the local Hawaiian cannabis community to present safe medicine and knowledge to the public. For more information, please visit hipharmlabs.com
About PharmLabs Hawaii LLC
PharmLabs Hawaii main laboratory will be in Maui and will offer services able to service the entire State of Hawaii. PharmLabs Hawaii is ISO 17025 certified and will offer the same high quality analytic testing and customer service that San Diego PharmLabs has been offering for over 5 years now. The lab is run by professional scientists who pride themselves on accuracy, safety and compliance.
Q&A With Dr. William A. English
PharmLabs Hawaii LLC is pleased to announce the signing of Dr. William English as the Director of PharmLabs Hawaii LLC, our newest operation serving our customers in the Hawaiian Islands. Will brings twenty years of analytical chemistry experience to the Hawaii pharmacology testing market. We sat down with Will to learn about his background and his vision for the future.
Q: What would you say is your most relevant experience to this market?
My most recent job as the Technical Director of the Army’s forensic drug testing lab in Hawaii has a direct parallel to the PharmLabs Hawaii LLC position. We tested nearly one million samples a year for drugs of abuse. The mandate is simple “don’t ever be wrong about a positive result.” During my tenure there we added hydrocodone and benzodiazepines to the test panel. As you develop the testing procedure and write the SOP’s there is always a little voice in the back of your head that says “if you get this wrong, an innocent person goes to jail.” I’m quite proud of the fact that we never had a false positive on my watch.
The other part of the job I’m quite proud of was the level of customer service my team gave. You could always tell when you were getting a first time caller to the lab. The call always starts out as an apology for taking up your time and you can tell from the tone of their voice that they have very low expectations of the service they are going to receive. It’s a good feeling when you can turn that person around and leave them feeling that they got the answers that they were looking for and that the lab is part of their team. I want to bring that same level of customer service to the pharma community in Hawaii. The lab should be more than a regulatory burden. I want to make PharmLabs Hawaii LLC an integral partner that helps our customer with strain, soil, and growing decisions.
Q: Any interesting observations from your time at the drug lab?
First, the overall positive rate is less than one percent. Second, if you look at the opiates, benzodiazepines, and d-amphetamine positive results we were getting you come away with a striking observation. And that is that the vast majority (over 90%) of users have prescriptions. In other words the use was medicinal, not abuse. This just confirms my belief that the vast majority of the public can be trusted to decide what is right for themselves.
Q: What experience has been the most challenging?
One year after getting my Ph.D. I found myself as the Chief of the NeuroBehavioral Toxicology Branch at the Army’s Institute of Chemical Defense. It was a quick crash course on protecting the nervous system from chemical induced pathology. I came away from there with a profound respect for the scientists who push the barriers of human understanding and how much work is required for each little step.
The entire field of neuro-protection is still in its infancy. Perhaps it’s time to look at all of our options.
Q: What experience has been the most fun?
My year in Afghanistan was certainly the most memorable. Everyday brought a different problem to be solved; identifying confiscated chemicals, providing expert advice, identifying potential risks, etc. The most common question was “why does the bottled water taste so bad?” We would get this question about once a week from different regions. The answer was almost always the same, sulfur dioxide. Telling the customer this only caused more alarm. Eventually we learned to tell them that the sulfur dioxide level in their bottled water was less than in American beer.
Q: You’ve talked a lot about the customer so far. How do you envision the customer experience at PharmLabs Hawaii LLC?
At a minimum you are going to get accurate and supportable results with a quick turn around time. Doing all that at the best price will keep you coming back, but we want more than that. We want to build a relationship of trust so that years from now, when there are other options, you will remember that it was PharmLabs Hawaii LLC that has always been there for you, that is was PharmLabs Hawaii LLC that helped grow your business, that is was PharmLabs Hawaii LLC that helped shape the industry.
To learn more about this expansion, please visit:
1859 Cable Street San Diego, CA 92107
