Darwin Millard
38
Technical Director
Cannabis Safety & Quality
At some point in his 17 years in cannabis, Darwin Millard’s logical and straightforward demeanor earned him the nickname “the Spock of Cannabis” from his fellow volunteers at ASTM International. With only a hint of pride, he says the name is an apt description.
“It is an accurate way to describe me and how I conduct business and approach the standards development process,” Millard says. “While I’m incredibly passionate about the cannabis plant, I leave my emotions at the door when it comes to consulting or offering guidance to licensed operators. I’ve become known for telling clients what they needed to hear instead of what they wanted to hear in an unapologetic emotionless manner.”
Millard is the technical director for Cannabis Safety & Quality, an accredited certification program that helps cannabis operators minimize risk, protect their brand and provide the safest product for consumers.
He is also a volunteer at ASTM International, where he has taken the lead on developing many standards for industry practices. He was awarded the James A. Thomas Leadership Award from ASTM International in 2021, which recognizes individuals who have significantly advanced ASTM’s mission through extraordinary accomplishment, and is only awarded to one person each year.
Q&A
How did you get the nickname “the Spock of cannabis” and is it an apt description?
I was coined the “Spock of Cannabis” by my fellow volunteers at ASTM International Technical Committee D37 on Cannabis because of my logical, straightforward approach to answering some of the most challenging questions facing the global cannabis industries (encompassing all end uses including industrial hemp). It is an accurate way to describe me and how I conduct business and approach the standards development process. While I’m incredibly passionate about the cannabis plant, I leave my emotions at the door when it comes to consulting or offering guidance to licensed operators. I’ve become known for telling clients what they NEEDED to hear instead of what they WANTED to hear in an unapologetic emotionless manner. When it comes to consumer safety, there’s no time for blowing smoke.
When did your relationship with cannabis start and how did it become a career?
I became an active consumer of cannabis when I was 14 and cultivated my obsession with the glandular trichomes of the cannabis plant during college. I was always particularly fascinated by the process of making traditional hash and hashish, so as soon as I finished getting my Mechanical Engineering degree, I quickly turned my passion into a career. It was either design and build slurry pumps for the fracking industry or dive headfirst into Colorado’s fledgling medical cannabis program, and nearly two decades later, I wouldn’t change my decision for the world.
Could you tell me a little about your role with ASTM?
I wear many hats with ASTM. I’m a member of ASTM International’s Technical Committee D37 on Cannabis, a group dedicated to the development of voluntary consensus standards for the global cannabis/hemp industry. I serve as Subcommittee Vicechair of D37.04 on Cannabis Processing and Handling and Subcommittee Chair of D37.08 on Personal/Household-use Cannabis Devices and Appliances, helping others become the change they wish to see in the world.
I often take the lead on developing various standards. I’m proud to say that I wrote one of the first four standards ASTM D37 ever developed- D8245 – Standard Guide for Disposal of Resin Containing Cannabis Raw Materials and Downstream Products, which helps reduce the amount of waste generated by licensed operators. I also was a part of the team that developed the ASTM Standard D8441 – Specification for an International Symbol for Identifying Consumer Products Containing Intoxicating Cannabinoids, which establishes the International Intoxicating Cannabinoid Product Symbol (IICPS), the world’s first truly “universal” symbol. Another big project was writing ASTM Standard D8449 – Specification for Label Content and Style, Format, Location, and Prominence of Elements for Consumer Products Containing Cannabinoids, which essentially outlines how to declare the cannabinoid content of inhalable, ingestible, and topical consumer products containing cannabinoids. This label content standard sticks out in my mind as one of my greatest accomplishments, because it’s one of the most comprehensive pieces of label content information available today – harmonizing existing state-level, federal and international requirements for declarations for identity, responsibility, and quantity for traditional consumer products with those imposed on cannabinoid-containing products so that critical quality and safety information is conveyed in a familiar and understandable manner, empowering the consumer to make an informed purchase decision.
What would you say has been your biggest milestone in the industry?
I was honored to receive the James A. Thomas Leadership Award from ASTM International in 2021, for recognition of my tireless effort to not only push the standards development ball forward, but to elevate others around me to do the same. The James A. Thomas Leadership Award recognizes individuals early in their ASTM International career who have significantly advanced ASTM’s mission through extraordinary accomplishment, example, and vision, and is only awarded to one person each year. Working behind the scenes to develop these standards is a necessary, yet somewhat thankless job, and to be honored in this way was incredibly humbling and one of the most significant milestones in my career, next to being a part of the team that developed the Dixie Botanical line of CBD dietary supplements from hemp. This was the first legally sold CBD dietary supplement introduced in 2012, and it created the pathway to cannabinoid product normalization that we are on today.