The challenges of regulating cannabis testing laboratories that are for profit is one the biggest challenges facing the cannabis regulation community in America.
By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent
The state regulators of cannabis will make their initial attempt to check on the testing laboratories that have been licensed by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in order to ensure the safety of marijuana products.
Staff from the Division of cannabis Regulation will begin arriving unannounced in dispensaries on July 1 to collect around 50 products per month. It will be taken to the Missouri State Public Health Reference Laboratory where they’ll test for mold, pesticides, and other substances.
Ryan Bernard, manager of the testing and research unit in the division, explained that the sampling was planned for some time as an additional level of compliance. Bernard stated that the division does not expect any issues to be found.
Bernard explained, “We’ll never know what we have until we get the data.” I have complete faith in the testing licensees to test according to rules as outlined.
The Independent reported that experts from national testing labs told them Missouri regulators could be stunned by the results.
Josh Swider said, “The shelf testing process hasn’t been successful at all in the states I have heard of. Especially if they are just getting started.” Swider was vice chair of American Council of Independent Laboratories cannabis working group. “It’ll be telling fast.”
Swider mentioned a citation from Arizona issued to a marijuana lab in April, when the state found over a dozen “deficiencies”, such as problems with pesticide detection and the laboratory’s methods for testing potency.
Swider described the level of pesticides in the Arizona products as “scary.”
Swider said, “But you see this all over the country”, co-founder of Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs and CEO in San Diego. “Regulators start to enforce.” “They’re realizing a problem that has been systemic since a very long time.”
Another common problem Missouri locals may also encounter, according to him, is the over-inflated THC content of products.
Regulators had previously discussed conducting a round-robin testing where state certified testing laboratories would verify each other’s results under the instruction of the state. Amy Moore, Director of the Division of Cannabis Regulations (DCR), said to lawmakers that additional testing rules were “critical” in 2023.
Moore said at an hearing of a congressional committee in 2023 that the challenges of regulating cannabis testing labs for profit and the reliance on them was one the issues most frequently discussed in the federal cannabis regulatory community.
Bernard stated that for many reasons the state did not get this process up and running, therefore the unannounced tests will be the first time the regulators have attempted to test a backstop.
The state budget for 2024 began with $3.8 millions to fund this sort of testing at the lab. The state budget document states that the marijuana testing methods are “still being implemented” and the most of this money has not been spent. A further $2.4million was set aside for the fiscal year that ends June 30, but it is not clear how much has actually been spent.
Bernard could not speak about the budget for tests, because he claimed that the divisional and state labs budgets were “totally separated.”
He said, “Our budget for operating is DCR alone.” State public health laboratories is theirs.
A further $2.4million will be allocated to the lab for the new fiscal year, which begins on July 1.
Swider stated that a typical test in a Missouri marijuana lab cost about $400. The lab receives $2.4 million to perform 600 tests per year. This would translate into $4,000 for each test.
He said, “That is not good.”
Swider said it would be impossible for one person to perform 50 tests per week in his lab, but that 50 could be completed in a day.
Bernard says that sampling just 50 of more than 500 000 product labels is not representative. He called it a “very preliminary” beginning.
Bernard said he has worked closely with the public health laboratory to develop the infrastructure needed for cannabis testing. However, there have been some delays.
“[The state lab has] He said that the company had experienced delays in grant funding and also backorders due to possible tariffs. “They’ve had equipment failures…so this starting point number will get us to a point where we can start stabilizing the amount they need to purchase compared to the amount that I can sample.”
It is important to have a sample size that represents the population as early as possible.
Greenway Magazine reports that at the MJ Unpacked Cannabis conference held in November, testing experts expressed concern about the fact 82 percent Missouri cannabis testing takes place only at one lab. The lab catches mold problems less often than any other Missouri or national lab.
At the November panel, information obtained through a Sunshine request revealed that the lab referred to as “Lab D” reported a failure rate for Aspergillus—a mold that poses significant health risks— roughly 8 times lower than the national average.
State’s other laboratories had a failure percentage of 3.3 per cent, which was in line with the national standard of 3.8 per cent.
Lab D failed at a rate just below 0.5 percent.
These results raised concerns about the quality of mold inspection. Bernard stated that these results were not alarming to him.
Bernard stated that “everyone is held to the exact same standards in terms of testing and ISO accreditation.” “I have no doubt that the testing is done properly by industry without doing any further investigations.”
The original publication of this story is Missouri Independent.
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