This year was supposed to be the year that California’s cannabis regulators righted the ship in terms of testing lab quality, but ongoing reports of weed contamination and subsequent enforcement actions show more work still needs to be done to ensure clean and safe product.
California’s Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) passed new regulations in 2023 that standardized the testing methods for labs. New rules for flower took effect at the start of the year, but only about a third of the licensed testing labs were ready to meet those standards, placing the majority of labs on the sidelines for testing bud.
Eventually more labs would return to the fold, leaving eight labs unable to test flower. Beyond that, the state has increased its enforcement of lab standards, with more license revocations, suspensions and fines compared to last year, according to DCC spokesperson David Hafner.
DCC established new regulatory standards for lab testing, which officially went into effect on Oct. 1, 2023. The new rules standardized testing methods for total THC and contaminants such as mold or certain bacteria. Prior to that, labs were able to use a variety of different testing methods, some of which were more likely than others to produce successful test results for contaminants. For example, some testing mediums might be more likely to not detect certain bacteria, while other mediums might be less likely to identify some pesticides. These differences could theoretically allow labs and cultivators to game the system.
Testing labs were required to meet the new standards by Jan. 1. By the time those new standards went into effect, only 12 of the state’s then 37 licensed testing labs were in compliance for testing flower. The remaining 25 labs were still allowed to test edibles, concentrates and infused pre-rolls.
Since then, 17 more labs have been approved, meaning there are now 29 labs in the state that are permitted to test flower, although at least a couple recently had their licenses revoked.
Verity Analytics’, other labs’ licenses revoked, suspended
California cannabis testing lab shopping was already a concern for the nation’s largest legal weed market when investigative news reports this year by the L.A. Times and San Francisco Chronicle found toxic pesticides in numerous samples purchased at licensed retailers.
The DCC has started stepping up enforcement of labs after a few years of sporadic disciplinary actions.
On July 16, Verity Analytics’ license was revoked for a variety of violations, including non-compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act and testing requirements, according to the DCC’s database of enforcement actions.
In the last year, the licenses for ProForma Labs and NCALC LLC were also revoked, and Certified Ag Labs‘ license was suspended, according to the DCC. The database also includes numerous examples of fines and citations issued, including California Cannabis Testing Labs, which lost its license July 24 for allegedly falsifying cannabis testing data.
“Since January 1, 2024, the Department has issued 12 citations, fines, suspensions, and license revocations (this does not include the recent CCTL revocation which is currently being appealed) to licensed testing laboratories, a 50 percent increase from the 8 actions issued in 2023,” Hafner said in an email to CRB Monitor.
The state revoked the testing license for Niva Labs on Dec. 1, 2022, citing failures related to the detection of contaminants in cannabis samples.
While six labs were cited and fined for various testing standard violations in 2023, only NCALC lost their license on Dec. 20.
“The Department will continue to take action against all licensees, including testing laboratories, who do not follow the Department’s regulations,” Hafner said.
Most of the recent scrutiny for pesticides has centered on chlorfenapyr, which is an insecticide developed by BASF Corp. that has been shown to be toxic to humans. Despite the immediate focus on chlorfenapyr, the state is also looking at other pesticides in cannabis samples.
“While the recent pesticide recalls were issued due to the presence of chlorfenapyr, that is not the only pesticide or contaminant the Department tests for when assessing product complaints or conducting its investigations,” wrote Hafner.
