Iowa Admin. Code r. 641-154.1

Current through Regsiter Vol. 46, No. 26, June 12, 2024
Rule 641-154.1 - Definitions

For the purposes of these rules, the following definitions shall apply:

"Acceptance criteria" means the specified limits placed on characteristics of an item or method that are used to determine data quality.

"Accreditation" means the procedure by which an authoritative body gives formal recognition that an organization is competent to carry out specific tasks and verifies that the appropriate quality management system is in place.

"Accredited nonpublic school" means any nonpublic school accredited by the Iowa state board of education, excluding home schools.

"Action level" means the threshold value that provides the criterion for determining whether a sample passes or fails a test performed pursuant to these rules.

"Aliquot" means a portion of a sample that is used in an analysis.

"Analyte" means a chemical, compound, element, bacteria, yeast, fungus, or toxin to be identified or measured.

"Analytical batch" means a group of samples that are prepared together for the same analysis and analyzed sequentially using the same instrument calibration curve and common analytical quality control checks.

"Analytical method" means a technique used qualitatively or quantitatively to determine the composition of a sample or a microbial contamination of a sample.

"Audit" means a financial review by an independent certified public accountant that includes select scope engagement or other methods of review that analyze operational or compliance issues.

"Background investigation" means a thorough review of an entity, an owner, investors, and employees conducted by the department of public safety, including but not limited to state and national criminal history records, credit records, and internal revenue service records.

"Batch" means a specifically identified quantity of dried flower and other cannabis plant matter that is uniform in strain or cultivar, harvested at the same time, and cultivated using the same pesticides and other crop inputs.

"Batch number" means a unique numeric or alphanumeric identifier assigned to a batch of cannabis plants by a manufacturer when the batch is harvested. The batch number shall contain the manufacturer's number and a sequence to allow for inventory and traceability.

"Biosecurity" means a set of preventative measures designed to reduce the risk of transmission of:

1. Infectious diseases in crops;

2. Quarantined pests;

3. Invasive alien species;

4. Living modified organisms.

"Bordering state" means the same as defined in Iowa Code section 331.910.

"Cannabinoid" means a chemical compound that is unique to and derived from cannabis.

"Cannabis" means seeds, plants, cuttings, or plant waste material from Cannabis sativa L. or Cannabis indica used in the manufacture of medical cannabidiol.

"CAS number" means a unique numerical identifier assigned to every chemical substance described in the open literature by Chemical Abstracts Service.

"CBD" means cannabidiol, Chemical Abstracts Service number 13956-29-1.

"CBDA" means cannabidiolic acid, Chemical Abstracts Service number 1244-58-2.

"CBG" means cannabigerol, Chemical Abstracts Service number 25654-31-3.

"CBN" means cannabinol, Chemical Abstracts Service number 521-35-7.

"Certificate of analysis" means the report prepared for the requester about the analytical testing performed and the results obtained by a laboratory.

"Certification" means a procedure by which a third party gives written assurance (certificate of conformity) that a product, process or service conforms to specified requirements.

"Certified" means that a laboratory demonstrates to the satisfaction of the department its ability to consistently produce valid data within the acceptance limits as specified in the department's requirements for certification and meets the minimum requirements of this chapter and all applicable regulatory requirements.

"Certified reference material" means a reference material prepared by a certifying body.

"Crop input" means any substance applied to or used in the cultivation and growth of a cannabis plant. "Crop input" includes, but is not limited to, pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers, and other soil or medium amendments.

"Data-quality assessment" means a scientific and statistical process that establishes whether the collected data are of the right type, quality, and quantity to support the intended use of the data.

"Date of expiration" means one year from the date of issuance of the medical cannabidiol registration card by the department of transportation.

"Date of issuance" means the date of issuance of the medical cannabidiol registration card by the department.

"Debilitating medical condition" means any of the following:

1. Cancer, if the underlying condition or treatment produces one or more of the following:

* Severe or chronic pain.

* Nausea or severe vomiting.

* Cachexia or severe wasting.

2. Multiple sclerosis with severe and persistent muscle spasms.

3. Seizures, including those characteristic of epilepsy.

4. AIDS or HIV as defined in Iowa Code section 141A.1.

5. Crohn's disease.

6. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

7. Any terminal illness, with a probable life expectancy of under one year, if the illness or its treatment produces one or more of the following:

* Severe or chronic pain.

* Nausea or severe vomiting.

* Cachexia or severe wasting.

8. Parkinson's disease.

9. Chronic pain.

10. Severe, intractable autism with self-injurious or aggressive behaviors.

11. Post-traumatic stress disorder.

12. Any medical condition that is recommended by the medical cannabidiol board and adopted by the board of medicine by rule pursuant to Iowa Code section 124E.5 and that is listed in 653-subrule 13.15(1).

"Department" means the Iowa department of public health.

"Director" means the director of the Iowa department of public health.

"Dispensary" means an individual or entity licensed by the department to dispense medical cannabidiol to patients and primary caregivers pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 124E and these rules. "Dispensary" includes the employees and agents of the dispensary.

"Dispensary facility" means any secured building, space, grounds, and physical structure of a dispensary licensed by the department to dispense medical cannabidiol and where the dispensing of medical cannabidiol is authorized.

"Dispense" or "dispensing" means to supply medical cannabidiol to patients pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 124E and these rules.

"Disqualifying felony offense" means a violation under federal or state law of a felony under federal or state law, which has as an element the possession, use, or distribution of a controlled substance, as defined in 21 U.S.C. § 802(6).

"Edible medical cannabidiol products" means food items containing medical cannabidiol. "Edible medical cannabidiol products" does not include pills, tinctures, oils, or other forms of medical cannabidiol that may be consumed orally or through the nasal cavity that do not contain food or food additives; provided that food or food additives used as carriers, excipients, or processing aids shall not be considered food or food additives.

"Field duplicate sample" means a sample that is taken in the identical manner and from the same batch, process lot, or lot being sampled as the primary sample. A field duplicate sample is analyzed separately from the primary sample and is used for quality control only.

"Form and quantity" means the types and amounts of medical cannabidiol allowed to be dispensed to a patient or primary caregiver as approved by the department subject to recommendation by the medical cannabidiol board and approval by the board of medicine.

"Frequency" means the number of items occurring in a given category. Frequency may be determined by analytical method or laboratory-specific requirements for the purpose of accuracy, precision of the analysis, or statistical calculation.

"Health care practitioner" means an individual licensed under Iowa Code chapter 148 to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery, a physician assistant licensed under Iowa Code chapter 148C, an advanced registered nurse practitioner licensed under Iowa Code chapter 152, or an advanced practice registered nurse under Iowa Code chapter 152E, who is a patient's primary care provider or a podiatrist licensed pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 149.

"Increment" or "sample increment" means a smaller sample that, together with other increments, makes up the primary sample.

"Inspection" means an on-site evaluation by the department, the department of public safety, or a department-approved independent consultant of facilities, records, personnel, equipment, methodology, and quality assurance practices for compliance with these rules.

"International Electro technical Commission" or "IEC" means an independent, nongovernmental membership organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic, and related technologies.

"International Organization for Standardization" or "ISO" means an independent, nongovernmental membership organization and the largest developer of voluntary international standards.

"Investor" means a person making a cash investment of at least 5 percent interest in an applicant or licensed manufacturer or dispensary with the expectation of receiving financial returns.

"Laboratory" means the state hygienic laboratory at the University of Iowa or any other independent medical cannabidiol testing facility accredited to Standard ISO/IEC 17025 by an International Organization for Standardization-approved accrediting body, with a controlled substance registration certificate from the Drug Enforcement Administration of the U.S. Department of Justice and a certificate of registration from the Iowa board of pharmacy, and approved by the department to examine, analyze, or test samples of medical cannabidiol or any substance used in the manufacture of medical cannabidiol. For the purposes of these rules, an independent laboratory is a laboratory operated by an entity that has no equity ownership in a medical cannabidiol manufacturer.

"Limit of detection" or "LOD" means the lowest quantity of a substance or analyte that can be distinguished from the absence of that substance within a stated confidence limit.

"Limit of quantitation" or "LOQ" means the minimum concentration of an analyte in a specific matrix that can be reliably quantified while also meeting predefined goals for bias and imprecision.

"Lot" means a specific quantity of medical cannabidiol that is uniform and intended to meet specifications for identity, strength, purity, and composition, and that is manufactured, packaged, and labeled during a specified time period according to a single manufacturing, packaging, and labeling record.

"Lot number" means a unique numeric or alphanumeric identifier assigned to a lot by a manufacturer when medical cannabidiol is produced. The lot number shall contain the manufacturer's number and a sequence to allow for inventory, traceability, and identification of the plant batches used in the production of a lot of medical cannabidiol.

"Manufacture" or "manufacturing" means the process of converting harvested cannabis plant material into medical cannabidiol.

"Manufacturer" means an individual or entity licensed by the department to produce medical cannabidiol and distribute it to dispensaries pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 124E and these rules. "Manufacturer" includes the employees and agents of the manufacturer.

"Manufacturing facility" means any secured building, space, grounds, and physical structure of a manufacturer for the cultivation, harvesting, packaging, processing, storage, and distribution of cannabis or medical cannabidiol and where access is restricted to designated employees of a manufacturer and escorted visitors.

"Market withdrawal" means the voluntary removal of medical cannabidiol from dispensaries and patients by a manufacturer for minor issues that do not pose a serious health threat.

"Mass spectrometry" means an analytical technique that ionizes chemical species and sorts the ions based on their mass-to-charge ratio.

"Matrix" means the component or substrate that contains the analyte of interest.

"Matrix spike duplicate" means a duplicate sample prepared by adding a known quantity of a target analyte to a field sample matrix or other matrix that is as closely representative of the matrix under analysis as possible.

"Matrix spike sample" means a sample prepared by adding a known quantity of the target analyte to a field sample matrix or to a matrix that is as closely representative of the matrix under analysis as possible.

"Medical assistance program" means IA Health Link, Medicaid Fee-for-Service, or HAWK-I, as administered by the Iowa Medicaid enterprise of the Iowa department of human services.

"Medical cannabidiol" means any pharmaceutical grade cannabinoid found in the plant Cannabis sativa L. or Cannabis indica or any other preparation thereof that is delivered in a form recommended by the medical cannabidiol board, approved by the board of medicine, and designated in this chapter. This definition shall not apply to any cannabis-derived investigational product or cannabis-derived product approved as a prescription drug medication by the United States food and drug administration.

"Medical cannabidiol tracking number" means the sales identification number assigned by a dispensary to a transaction at the time of the sale of a medical cannabidiol product.

"Medical cannabidiol waste" means medical cannabidiol that is unused, unwanted, damaged, defective, expired, or contaminated and that is returned to a dispensary or manufacturer for disposal.

"Medical cannabis goods" means medical cannabidiol process lots, medical cannabidiol products, and cannabis plant material, including dried tissue.

"Method blank" means an analyte-free matrix to which all reagents are added in the same volumes or proportions as are used in sample preparation.

"Moisture content" means the percentage of water in a dry sample by weight.

"National criminal history background check" means fingerprint processing through the department of public safety and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and review of records on file with national organizations, courts, and law enforcement agencies to the extent allowed by law.

"Non-target organism" means an organism that the test method or analytical procedure is not testing for. Non-target organisms are used in evaluating the specificity of a test method.

"Owner" means a person with a 5 percent or greater ownership interest in an applicant or licensed manufacturer or dispensary.

"Patient" means a person who is a permanent resident of the state of Iowa who suffers from a debilitating medical condition that qualifies for the use of medical cannabidiol pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 124E and these rules.

"Patient registration number" means the unique identification number issued to a patient by the department of transportation upon approval of a patient's application by the department as described in these rules.

"Percent recovery" means the percentage of a measured concentration relative to the added (spiked) concentration in a reference material, matrix spike sample, or matrix spike duplicate.

"Permanent resident" means a natural person who physically resides in Iowa as the person's principal and primary residence and who establishes evidence of such residency by providing the department with one of the following:

1. A valid Iowa driver's license,

2. A valid Iowa nonoperator's identification card,

3. A valid Iowa voter registration card,

4. A current Iowa vehicle registration certificate,

5. A utility bill,

6. A statement from a financial institution,

7. A residential lease agreement,

8. A check or pay stub from an employer,

9. A child's school or child care enrollment documents,

10. Valid documentation establishing a filing for homestead or military tax exemption on property located in Iowa, or

11. Other valid documentation as deemed acceptable by the department to establish residency.

"Pharmaceutical grade" means medical cannabidiol that meets standards for content, contamination, and consistency set by the department as determined by testing conducted at a laboratory pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 124E and these rules.

"Plant material" means any plant ofCannabis sativa L. or Cannabis indica, or any part thereof, including flowers, leaves, trichomes, and tissue.

"Plant material waste" means plant material that is not used in the production of medical cannabidiol in a form allowable under these rules.

"Primary caregiver" means a person who is a resident of this state or a bordering state, including but not limited to a parent or legal guardian, at least 18 years of age, who has been designated by a patient's health care practitioner as a necessary caretaker taking responsibility for managing the well-being of the patient with respect to the use of medical cannabidiol pursuant to the provisions of Iowa Code chapter 124E and these rules.

"Primary care provider" means any health care practitioner involved in the diagnosis and treatment of a patient's debilitating medical condition.

"Primary sample" means a portion of a batch, process lot, or lot that is used for testing for identity, strength, purity, and composition.

"Process lot" means any amount of cannabinoid concentrate or extract that is uniform, produced from one or more batches, and used for testing for identity, strength, purity, and composition prior to being packaged.

"Product expiration date" means the date after which a medical cannabidiol product may not be sold by a manufacturer or a dispensary.

"Production" or "produce" means:

1. Cultivating or harvesting plant material;

2. Processing or manufacturing; or

3. Packaging of medical cannabidiol.

"Proficiency test" means an evaluation of a laboratory's performance against preestablished criteria by means of interlaboratory comparisons of test measurements.

"Proficiency test sample" means a sample prepared by a party independent of the testing laboratory, with a concentration and identity of an analyte that is known to the independent party but is unknown to the testing laboratory and testing laboratory personnel.

"Public or private school" means any property operated by a school district, charter school, or accredited nonpublic school for purposes related to elementary, middle, or secondary schools or secondary vocation centers.

"Qualitative analysis" means identification of an analyte in a substance or mixture.

"Quality assurance" means a set of operating principles to produce data of known accuracy and precision. "Quality assurance" encompasses employee training, equipment preventative maintenance procedures, calibration procedures, and quality control testing, among other things.

"Quality control" means a set of measures implemented within an analytical procedure to ensure that the measurement system is operating in a state of statistical control in which errors have been reduced to acceptable levels.

"Quality control samples" means samples produced and used for the purpose of assuring quality control. Quality control samples include but are not limited to blank samples, spike samples, duplicate samples, and reference material samples.

"Quantitative analysis" means measurement of the quantities of chemical components present in a substance or mixture. Quantitative analysis typically uses a certified reference material, if available, to create a calibration curve.

"Reagent" means a compound or mixture added to a system to cause a chemical reaction or to test if a reaction occurs. A reagent may be used to tell whether or not a specific chemical substance is present by causing a reaction to occur with the chemical substance.

"Recall" means the return of medical cannabidiol from patients and dispensaries to a manufacturer because of the potential for serious health consequences from the use of the medical cannabidiol.

"Reference material" means a material containing a known concentration of an analyte of interest that is in solution or in a homogeneous matrix. Reference material is used to document the bias of the analytical process.

"Reference method" means a method by which the performance of an alternate method is measured or evaluated.

"Relative percent difference" or "RPD" means a comparative statistic used to calculate precision or random error. RPD is calculated using the following equation: RPD = absolute value (primary sample measurement - duplicate sample measurement) / ([primary sample measurement + duplicate sample measurement] / 2) x 100.

"Relative standard deviation" or "RSD" means the standard deviation expressed as a percentage of the mean recovery. "RSD" is the coefficient of variation multiplied by 100. If any results are less than the limit of quantitation, then the absolute value of the limit of quantitation is used in the following equation: RSD = (s / x) x 100, where s = standard deviation and x = mean recovery.

"Requester" means a person who submits a request to a licensed testing laboratory for state-mandated testing of medical cannabis goods. The requester may be a licensed manufacturer or the department.

"Residual solvents and processing chemicals" means volatile organic chemicals that are used or produced in the manufacture or production of medical cannabidiol.

"Restricted access area" means a building, room, or other contiguous area on the premises where plant material is grown, cultivated, harvested, stored, packaged, or processed for sale under control of the manufacturer, and where no person under the age of 18 is permitted.

"Sample" means a representative part of or a single item from a larger whole or group.

"Sanitize" means to sterilize, disinfect, or make hygienic.

"Semiquantitative analysis" means less than quantitative precision and does not involve a full calibration. Analyte identification is based on a single-point reference or high-probability library match. The determination of amount uses the ratio of the unknown chemical analyte to that of a known analyte added to the sample before analysis. Uncertainty for semiquantitative results is higher than for quantitative results.

"Significant figures" means the number of digits used to express a measurement.

"Stability" or "stable" means that after storage of an unopened package of medical cannabidiol at a licensed manufacturing facility or dispensary facility, the contents shall not vary in concentrations of THC and CBD by more than an amount determined by the department and listed in the laboratory testing requirements and acceptance criteria document described in subrule 154.69(1).

"Standard operating procedure" means a written document that provides detailed instructions for the performance of all aspects of an analysis, operation, or action.

"State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

"Synthetic cannabinoid" means a designed compound with structural features that allow binding to the known cannabinoid receptors present in human cells and that produce biological effects similar to those of natural cannabinoids.

"Tamper-evident" means that one or more one-time-use seals are affixed to the opening of a package, allowing a person to recognize whether or not the package has been opened.

"Target organism" means an organism that is being tested for in an analytical procedure or test method.

"Testing laboratory record" means information relating to the testing laboratory and the analyses it performs that is prepared, owned, used, or retained by the laboratory and includes electronic files and video footage.

"THC" or "delta-9 THC" means tetrahydrocannabinol, Chemical Abstracts Service number 1972-08-3.

"THCA" means tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, Chemical Abstracts Service number 23978-85-0.

"Total tetrahydrocannabinol" means 87.7 percent of the amount of tetrahydrocannabinolic acid plus the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol.

"Validation" means the confirmation by examination and objective evidence that the particular requirements for a specific intended use are fulfilled.

"Written certification" means a document signed by a health care practitioner, with whom the patient has established a patient-provider relationship, which states that the patient has a debilitating medical condition and identifies that condition and provides any other relevant information.

Iowa Admin. Code r. 641-154.1

Adopted by IAB October 1, 2014/Volume XXXVII, Number 7, effective 1/30/2015
Amended by IAB July 5, 2017/Volume XL, Number 01, effective 6/13/2017
Amended by IAB January 31, 2018/Volume XL, Number 16, effective 3/7/2018
Amended by IAB June 6, 2018/Volume XL, Number 25, effective 7/11/2018
Amended by IAB June 5, 2019/Volume XLI, Number 25, effective 7/10/2019
Amended by IAB February 12, 2020/Volume XLII, Number 17, effective 3/18/2020
Amended by IAB October 7, 2020/Volume XLIII, Number 8, effective 11/11/2020