The Institute of Cannabis Science founder sounds off on the High ya Doin Show
The Massachusetts cannabis community is fortunate to have the High ya Doin Show. Impressively produced and cut, the episodes feature a mix of science, news, and culture, with plenty of laughs in between.
In this new episode, frequent Talking Joints Memo contributor Jeff Rawson of the Institute of Cannabis Science breaks down the recent move by the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) to suspend Assured Testing Laboratories, and why that decision is shaking up the industry. He also sheds light on outdated regulations, and presents his own testing results and independent lab confirmations of THC percentages on prerolls and edibles sold in licensed dispensaries.
From calling out dishonest practices to offering a roadmap for reform, Rawson explains what is broken and what needs to change to make the Massachusetts cannabis industry truly transparent, accountable, and consumer-focused. You can find excerpts from the Rawson interview below …
On the suspension of an Independent Testing Lab …
The suspension order … was issued against Assured Testing Labs. And one of the things that [the Cannabis Control Commission] accused them of doing was, it said that … 7,183 times they took a test result that was not zero, but it would have been a passing test result for Total Yeast and Mold (TYM).
They took that test result and they entered it in and as zero and reported it as zero. … So that ends up being misleading and making it, kind of, seem cleaner than it is. … It’s a really straightforward instance of fraudulent data entry to make it look better than it is. [Ed. Note: Assured is suing the CCC to get its license reinstated, and filed a complaint in Suffolk County Superior Court against the agency arguing that the suspension came “without [the commission] affording [Assured] its basic due process rights of notice and opportunity to be heard.”).
On the lawsuit against Assured and other testing labs …
Assured is also being sued [by MCR Labs]. … And this lawsuit mentions the Massachusetts fraud statute, which is a pretty standard fraud statute that assesses damages based on the number of counts times the value.
And the value might be asserted to be the value of a full panel of tests. … So if you take that number 7,183 and you multiply it by, say, the cost of a full panel of cannabis flower testing …
On enforcement at the CCC …
They make lots of enforcement decisions based on not wanting to piss off big companies that they think might sue them and have deep pockets.
You’d like to imagine the [CCC] chief of research, the director of testing, the chief of investigations and enforcement, and the director of data, all, like, huddling every once in a while and working really closely together within the CCC to ferret out these problems. That’s what I would like to see happen.
But what I’m afraid of is that those four individuals are more isolated from each other and not collaborating as well as they could. And so that’s what I’m really hoping to see keep improving. And that’s what I’m hoping that this relatively new executive director can keep engendering is tighter and tighter collaboration, because I think if they work together like that … these investigations could get quite efficient.”
On testing pre-rolled joints …
In Massachusetts it is common practice for prerolls [to] test the batch of bud. They’re allowed to have a 15-pound batch. Then they’re allowed to take the trim and separate that and keep the same certificate of analysis with it.
And the CCC testing enforcement does not care, [one particular producer] said in an email. … Actually, when they make prerolls, it’s common practice to not have it be 100% buds. They actually will set a numerical ratio. They’ll do 50:50, trim to buds.
On gummies from dispensaries versus smoke shops …
There’s nearly a one-in-two chance of drawing a blank at a smoke shop, versus a one-in-10 chance at a dispensary, or one-in-11 chance at the dispensary of getting one that’s slightly off, enough that you might notice the difference.
Your odds of getting an accurately labeled gummy in a dispensary versus a smoke shop is like 10-to-1. So it’s almost impossible. … And I found similar stuff with the ones I buy online.
