Cannabis is one of the North America’s newest and most promising industries. It is now medically legal in 29 states and recreationally legal in 8 states, with even more allowing CBD for certain medical conditions. A recent poll also shows that close to 60% of American support legalized cannabis and Canada is taking cannabis even further, introducing legislation to federally legalize the plant in 2018. All of this indicates a trend away from prohibition toward a regulated market. And yet, some are still wary of cannabis.

There are the obvious concerns around legalized adult-use like access for children and the potential for drugged drivers who could put the public at risk. But there are also still some concerns around the medicinal use of the plant. One of those arguments is that cannabis cannot be standardized like pharmaceuticals are, creating an issue for doctors who want to recommend it as a treatment. This argument states that if we cannot guarantee a product will have stated levels of THC and CBD, it is unsafe to recommend a dosage to sick patients because it is impossible to know the exact effect and interaction with other medications. This an argument that should not be ignored by advocates. Medical cannabis must become more standardized if it hopes to truly compete with traditional pharmaceuticals.

Fortunately, as advocates often point out, a regulated market is just the remedy for this issue. Legalization and regulation of cannabis means that, for the first time, standardized, consistent product can be created. By taking the industry out of the basement and into the mainstream, companies can now operate at a level of sophistication needed to consistently meet standards set by regulation agencies. In fact, Canada’s task force that researched the market and made recommendations for legislation suggested a strict standardization process that would ensure product meets consistent quality standards that patients can depend on.

Standardization is not only a concern of growers to ensure medical patients know their dosage; it is also critical for cultivators who want to forecast production. As anyone who has started their own cultivation facility knows, setting up a commercial facility is an expensive undertaking which normally requires outside private investment. But before any cultivator or facility owner can get that investment, they must demonstrate their projected earnings from the project. Further, cultivators and facility owners must then meet those projections. Quality standardization and control is key to properly forecasting business success, making investors happy and allowing businesses to run smoothly.

Unfortunately, ensuring consistent, standardized quality is not always easy when it comes to cultivating a plant. Plants are living things and can vary in yield depending on a number of conditions from genetics to lighting to environment. Any change in light, temperature or humidity levels can cause plants to be unable to express their full genetic potential, leading to variances in THC and CBD levels and yield. The only way to truly ensure a consistent quality plant is to control the growing environment completely, with no interruptions or unplanned temperature and humidity swings. Therefore, setting up the exact same growing conditions for each crop is critical.  

At Surna, we spend a lot of time thinking about this when designing our equipment and services. We understand that the future of this industry is consistent quality and yields that cultivators, patients, owners and investors can depend on which is why we prioritize reliability when designing our equipment and offerings. Choosing a Surna system means that you can count on your environment in every aspect.

Our first layer of reliability is in our products. Our systems are designed for cultivators to be able to dial in specific temperature and humidity ranges, making accuracy easy. Surna also provides redundancy through our chiller bank system by utilizing chilled water technology for process cooling. Chiller banks allow all chillers to serve all in-room fan coils, meaning no one chiller is tied to a specific room. Setting up a facility this way allows for redundancy which is critical in commercial cultivation. By not tying specific chillers to specific rooms, cultivators can be sure that in the rare case of chiller downtime, cultivation rooms will not be taken off-line. Instead, functioning chillers in the bank will take over, servicing the room and ensuring you will never show up in the morning to find that your room temperatures or humidity levels spiked and damaged plants.

All our products are also intelligent, meaning they can be controlled by almost any control system available on the market. This allows cultivators to keep an eye on conditions inside cultivation areas even when they are away and helps facilities stay on top of any variances in environment, ensuring consistent yields.

The second layer of reliability is in our services. Surna is more than just an equipment designer and manufacturer. When you buy a Surna system, you also get access to our engineers, project and installation managers and our technical support team. Surna is the expert in environmental control for cannabis cultivation so everything we do is done with the goal of achieving healthy, consistent, high yielding plants. Our engineers will work with you to design the space specifically for your cultivation goals and our project managers and installation managers will be available throughout the planning, build out and commissioning phases to ensure everything goes smoothly. Once your facility is up and running, you can then count on our technical support team. We understand that part of creating a consistent, standardized product means that equipment must function properly all the time and our technical support team is available to help if any issues should ever arise.

Part of Surna’s mission is to understand not just the current industry, but also the future of the industry and we know that the future of the industry standardized, consistent product. Therefore, we work hard to create the reliable equipment and services you need to take your cultivation facility into the future of this exciting industry. To learn more or see how Surna can help design your next commercial facility, reach out to us or send us an email at info@surna.com!