Testimonies expected to address topics spanning total yeast and mold counts to test-batch sizes and widespread industry fraud
Until recently, problems with marijuana lab testing were widely known among weed industry-side stakeholders, but largely off-the-radar for most cannabis consumers.
Alarms have sounded at a steadily increasing pace for months. Pot-focused podcasters, bloggers, and sites like Talking Joints Memo have reported at length about everything from how lab shopping—the term used for when companies selectively work with testing facilities that fudge favorable results for them—enables the spread of moldy weed, to minor Cannabis Control Commission efforts to address flaws in state protocols. Covering a presentation by MCR Labs VP of Marketing and Technology Yasha Kahn at the Cannabis Science Fair at Harvard last December, we even called widespread testing manipulation the biggest Mass cannabis story of 2023.
Speaking about potency inflation in particular at that event, Kahn said, “If ExxonMobil was watering its gas down by 20%, you’d hear about it, and attorneys general would speak up and get the dollar signs in their eyes.”
Others have suggested that concerns around testing were central to conflicts that led to the September 2023 suspension of former CCC Chair Shannon O’Brien, who was formally fired by state Treasurer Deb Goldberg for unrelated reasons last month. As Jeff Rawson, Ph.D., president of the Institute of Cannabis Science in Cambridge, wrote in an open letter to Goldberg last October: “Chair O’Brien was one of the most receptive and understanding of the public officials we’ve encountered as we seek to reform cannabis testing, which is why her unexplained suspension concerns us.”
One year later, the issue has gone mainstream. Not just in Massachusetts, where the Boston Globe finally chimed in last month, but also in Colorado, California, and several other states with adult-use programs. A lot of that attention is due to the hard work of Kahn and several of his fellow dedicated researchers, who maintain a database of test results from all across the country. As MCR Labs puts it, “The data gathered is a treasure trove of information that can reshape our understanding of cannabis products, the policies that govern them, and the quality control mechanisms in place.” So far, they’ve used it to identify which cultivars are most and least susceptible to yeast and mold, and to smoke out trends and even bad actors and harmful policies.
We’re sure to hear some of those juicy details and more on Thursday, Nov. 7, when the CCC is scheduled to host a public listening session about Independent Testing Labs, the technical licensing designation for the facilities that manufacturers and growers use to evaluate products. Commissioners recently held a similar listening session with outdoor cultivators, and even on that separate but intersecting topic, stakeholders from testing labs showed up to speak out. All things considered, at last week’s monthly CCC meeting, Commissioner Kimberly Roy noted, “Testing seems to be on the forefront of a lot of folks’ minds.”
“It’s important to hear from our different groups of licensees, because they have different concerns and challenges that they face in this industry,” Roy said in anticipation of the upcoming hearing. “We all feel that [the listening sessions] are highly productive and informative, and we look forward to hearing from our labs. Cultivators have shared with us their concerns around our current regulatory scheme around testing—around total mold and yeast counts, microbial counts, as well as batch sizes—and so I’m curious to hear what the independent testing labs have to say in regard to those and other issues.”
People can testify virtually or in-person at the Worcester CCC office in Union Station, where the commission is prepared to handle overflow capacity for this hot-button subject. Those who want to have their voice heard but can’t make it on Nov. 7 can submit written testimony to commission@cccmass.com.
