Two Cannabis Testing Labs Approved by Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]W[/dropcap]e all want legal cannabis, but on a state level that can’t come to pass without sanctioned testing. Fortunately for Massachusetts the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) just approved provisional licenses for two testing laboratories in the state.
It has been legal for adults over the age of 21 to grow and consume cannabis in Massachusetts since Dec. 2016 . However, after the state failed to meet its July 1 deadline for legal cannabis sales the approval of testing labs proves to be a great indicator of what is to come in the near future. The labs, which were approved Thursday, are CDX Analytics of Salem and MCR Labs of Framingham.
Laboratory testing and analysis is par for the course when it comes to cannabis and related products. With the consumer in mind, every state must implement legislation that dictates the total potency, terpenes and residual solvents of the cannabis legally allowed within its borders. Without state regulations there is no way to actively monitor the safety, purity and quality of cannabis plants and products.
“We’re getting closer,” CCC Chairman Steven Hoffman said in a statement for the Worchester Business Journal on Thursday. “We have to issue final licenses, obviously, to retailers and to the labs because nothing can be sold unless their products are tested by a lab licensed by us. We have to do the final inspections required to do that . . . the other things are the applicants fulfilling all the terms of the provisional license.”
The CCC also approved Alternative Therapies Group, Inc., for the operation of a second retail facility—one is currently located in Salem—and Northeast Alternatives, Inc., also for retail sales. Aside from the approved laboratories and retail stores, the CCC currently has 88 pending applications, 27 are awaiting review, 34 have been rejected based on incompletion and 27 are in the process of background checks. Thursday’s CCC vote brings the total number of approved Massachusetts cannabis retailers to nine.
