Cannabis Device Safety Institute
Hardware safety standards, finally written.
An independent nonprofit standards body for cannabis consumption hardware. Built to test what no one else tests, publish what no one else publishes, and become the reference body that governments, researchers, and manufacturers can cite.
The Gap We Close
Fifteen years of hardware. Zero public safety record.
The FDA disclaims jurisdiction. State cannabis bureaus regulate the concentrate, not the cartridge. UL 8139 covers electrical safety, not off-gas chemistry. Industry self-regulation has produced no public registry of failed tests. Hardware is sold on marketing claims alone.
Federal
FDA
Disclaims jurisdiction over cannabis consumption devices.
State
Cannabis bureaus
Regulate the concentrate, not the cartridge.
Industry standard
UL 8139
Electrical safety only. No off-gas chemistry.
Self-regulation
No public registry
No published record of failed tests anywhere.
What We Do
Independent testing. Open methodology. Public reports.
Peer-reviewable safety testing of cannabis consumption devices — vaporizers, concentrate atomizers, glass ovens, ceramic donut heaters.
Published methodology. Published raw data. Public test reports regardless of outcome. A certification mark backed by replicable protocols. Open standards documents anyone can reference.
“Builders, not lawyers. Pay the lab, not pay to pass.”
How We're Built
Nonprofit parent. Fee-for-service testing subsidiary planned. Independent governance.
Origin
A test that should have started an industry. It didn't.
In 2012, founder Matt Macosko pivoted Divine Tribe — a Humboldt-based cannabis manufacturing company he had been running since 2001 — into electronic concentrate hardware. By 2016, with no industry body, regulator, or university willing to fund the work, Matt commissioned ALS Environmental to perform the first independent off-gas analysis ever conducted on a cannabis concentrate vaporizer.
Eight years later, no industry-wide adoption has followed. CDSI exists to make that work routine.
Founding Artifact
P1605022
ALS Environmental · November 30, 2016
The first independent off-gas test ever conducted on cannabis consumption hardware. Every CDSI methodology document references it.
Operating Principles
Five rules. Every report. Every time.
01
Provenance
Built by people who've been doing this work since before anyone asked.
02
Mission
Standards written by builders, peer-reviewed by scientists.
03
Independence
Pay the lab, not pay to pass. Every conflict on every cover page.
04
Methodology
Replicable, auditable, open.
05
Output
Public reports, certification mark, open standards.
Funding
Three streams. Independence by design.
No single revenue stream may exceed 50% of operating budget.
01
Vendor Testing Fees
Subsidiary LLC. Pay the lab, not pay to pass.
02
Grants & Donations
Foundation funding to the 501(c)(3)* parent.
03
Federal Awards
Federal research funding (Schedule III for medical landed April 2026).
Where Things Stand
From incorporation to public library in six months.
Every step below is on the public record. Updated October 2026.
- April 27 – May 8, 2026Incorporated as a California nonprofit public benefit corporation; federal EIN issued.Approved by the CA Secretary of State May 1 (Entity No. B20260200643).
- June 3, 2026Full IRS Form 1023 filed; initial registration (CT-1) filed with the California Attorney General’s Registry of Charities.
- June 23, 2026SAM.gov registration active — eligible for federal grants.UEI XR3FANYC5KR6.
- June 29, 2026IRS determination: tax-exempt under § 501(c)(3), public charity under § 509(a)(2).Exemption effective April 27, 2026. Contributions are tax-deductible.
- April – July 2026Open library published: white paper, the CDSI-001 testing methodology, the lexicon, and seven working papers.Browse the library →
- July 20 – August 12, 2026California franchise-tax exemption (FTB 3500A) filed; receipt acknowledged by the Franchise Tax Board.
- October 2026Institute email live: hello@cdsi.click, papers@cdsi.click, protocols@cdsi.click.
- NextCalifornia franchise-tax decision (expected late 2026). First device testing under CDSI-001 — planned, not yet scheduled. Four of five board seats are open.
Library
Open documents. Citation-stable URLs.
A standards body publishes documents anyone can cite. Ours live at permanent URLs and are open for review.
v1.0 · WHITE PAPER
The Cannabis Device Safety Gap
The founding white paper. Why hardware safety is the problem nobody owns.
CDSI-001 · STANDARD
Loaded-State Off-Gas Protocol
The founding-draft analytical methodology. Open for independent scientific review.
P-001 · POSITION
The Hardware Vacuum
Why the safety gap exists. The structural argument for an independent institute.
P-011 · KEYSTONE
The Reference Device
Why hardware characterization is a precondition for cannabis efficacy research — not just a safety activity.
P-012 · KEYSTONE
The Attribution Chain
The four characterizations that precede an honest human answer: device, material, the two under heat, then the person.
→ FULL LIBRARY
Whitepaper, Methodology, Papers, Lexicon
Every CDSI document. Open for review and citation.
Contact
If this is the work, let's talk.
Manufacturers committed to open testing. Researchers seeking industry-side data. Foundations funding harm reduction. Regulators looking for a technical reference. Consumer advocates who want a voting seat.
Matt Macosko
Founder
Arcata, California