One of California’s most prominent cannabis testing laboratories, CannaSafe Labs, is set to close, Analytical Cannabis reports. In a June 27 letter to clients, CannaSafe President, Antonio Frazier, said the company will be “winding down” its testing services.
“This isn’t a decision that we take lightly and certainly one that comes with a heavy heart. We thank you for trusting us with your products to ensure they’re safe and accurate for consumers.” — Frazier, in the letter, via Analytical Cannabis
Ini Afia, CannaSafe’s chief science officer, told Analytical Cannabis that “the issue of lab shopping and ownership decision not to play in that arena ultimately led to the closure.”
Lab shopping is the practice of cannabis businesses taking the product to different labs until it gets the testing result it desires.
“There hasn’t been substantive action from the DCC (Department of Cannabis Control) even when direct evidence of unscrupulous lab practices was submitted as complaints to the agency,” Afia told Analytical Cannabis. “When people are able to test compliance samples at multiple labs and pick the most favorable result for sale, then it makes it very difficult for labs with integrity to get on the playing field.”
Afia added that the closure “is not permanent” but hoped that California would limit the number of laboratory licenses and enforce state regulations.
“The California market has a ton of potential but unfortunately with taxation, circumstances around the economy, and inaction from regulatory authorities on unscrupulous labs, most existing cannabis labs will not make it,” he said.
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