The five stages
Claim identification
Editors flag every factual statement in a draft — health claims, dosing numbers, legal references, prices, and brand attributes — before the article moves into review.
Primary-source verification
Each flagged claim is checked against a primary source: the 2018 Farm Bill text, the relevant state statute, an FDA guidance letter, a peer-reviewed study, or the brand's own COA. Secondary sources (other publishers) are not enough.
Independent second read
A second editor — who didn't write the draft — re-reads claims against the linked sources. Anything ambiguous is escalated to a subject-matter reviewer (clinician for health, attorney-friendly summary for legal).
Scheduled re-verification
Legal and commercial pages are re-checked every 90 days. Health-adjacent guides are re-checked every 180 days, or sooner if a new study, regulation, or product launch changes the picture.
Corrections, in public
Material corrections get a dated note at the top of the page. Minor edits (typos, broken links) are silently fixed. We log every change in our internal CMS so a reader can ask for the diff.
What gets reviewed by an outside expert
- Health & physiology: any claim about how THC interacts with sleep, anxiety, hormones, metabolism, or medication is reviewed by a clinician (RN, MD, or licensed therapist).
- Legal status: state-by-state legality and shipping pages are reviewed by editors trained in tracking statutory changes — and re-verified after any cited bill is signed or struck down.
- Lab & dosing: COA and cannabinoid-content claims are spot-checked against the brand's most recent third-party lab report, not marketing copy.
Source hierarchy
- Tier 1 — Primary: Statutes, federal law text, FDA letters, peer-reviewed studies, third-party COAs.
- Tier 2 — Trusted secondary: Government health agencies, university extension publications, national newsrooms with cannabis desks.
- Tier 3 — Industry: Brand technical sheets and PR materials. Used only for product specs, never for safety or efficacy claims.
How to flag an error
See something that doesn't look right? Email corrections@wellsipguide.com with the URL and the line you're questioning. We respond to every correction request, even when we end up not changing the article.
