Testing Tribulations

Cannabis
regulations in Colorado are tightening, and starting on October 1, all retail
cannabis products will have to be tested for THC potency and contaminants. This
increase in regulated testing is part of the original laws and regulations set
forth by the state before recreational sales became legal. This process has
been being put into place slowly throughout the year, with regulated edibles testing
starting back in May. October will mark a new phase for cannabis regulations in
the state, but these new rules come with a whole new set of problems.

Local
recreational shops, dispensaries and concentrate processing companies are all
preparing for the new testing changes. However, there is some hesitation in the
industry about the new testing laws.

Brett
Mouser, the owner and founder of MAHATMA Extreme Concentrates voiced some of
his concerns, “The first major need that should be addressed is standardization
among testing companies. I can send the same sample to five different labs and
get back five very different results.”

This
lack of standardization has caused a trend of testing the same strain with
multiple companies. This gives the dispensaries an option to shop for test
results, while complying with the states rules. While this can give the
retailers a competitive advantage, it has some of them on edge as they would
like to provide their customers with the most accurate information possible. However,
as long as testing companies aren’t working on the same standard, concentrate
companies and dispensaries are going to continue to test with multiple
companies and use whichever test rating meets their needs.

It isn’t
just standardization that is causing a problem. The increase in tests required
has backed up dispensaries and concentrate companies, with wait times between
two and five days. As of now, retail stores can still sell some untested
products, but starting in October they will have to take these backups into
account as they will not be able to sell the products until the test results
have come back.

The
contaminants test that will be required beginning next month will test residual
solvent contamination for butanes and heptanes as well as other solvents
products that may come into contact with during processing. The contaminant
testing will also test for microbial contaminations, such as: Salmonella, E.
coli and Aspergillus. The state has implemented a seed-to-sale tracking system
that could trace an outbreak from an edible all the way back to the source
cannabis crop.

Edible
companies have been dealing with the new standardization laws since May. But,
it is not just the standardization laws being set forth by the Marijuana
Enforcement Division that edible companies have to worry about. As edibles in
Colorado aren’t managed by the FDA, the Department of Environmental Health
(DEH) has had to step in. The Denver DEH placed a recall on At Home Baked’s
products because they were processing their hash in possibly unsanitary
equipment, like a modified washing machine used to make ice water hash.

On the
other side of the coin, there are several individuals seeking testing services
that can’t be helped. The new state laws require certified testing labs to only
test products for recreational and medical shops and infused-product
manufactures. This has left several families and caregivers seeking to test
exact medical dosages without certified means of testing their products. These
patients seeking specific dosages have even more reason to be concerned with
needing testing standardization, but for now they just want to be able to test
with state-certified companies.

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Overall,
Colorado’s regulations are about to be put to their own test once the new laws
start in October. The need for quality tested products is understood, and with
the seed-to-sale system the state is tracking our cannabis crops better than
some of our food crops are tracked. That doesn’t change the need for a
standardized system that the world can use to ensure quality and potency for
cannabis products.