Oklahoma Still Lacks Cannabis Testing Labs

The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority has still not approved any cannabis testing labs, the Tulsa World reports. The state’s medical cannabis law requires products to have proof of testing before they can be sold.

OMMA laboratory program oversight manager Lee Rhoades said that despite the lack of labs approved by OMMA, suppliers still need to have their products tested for pesticides, heavy metals, solvents, bacteria, yeast, mold, potency, and terpenoids.

“These are being used for medicinal purposes. It’s called medical marijuana. And by implication, there’s going to be people, for instance cancer patients, who may be susceptible more than the general public to feel effects from contaminants. We’re calling it medical marijuana and it’s incumbent upon us to make sure, as in anything else medical, to do no harm.” – Rhoades, to the World

Austin Miller, who owns Cloudi Mornings LLC, noted that the state law requires testing “by strain” through an OMMA-approved lab and under the current system — with just a handful of labs in the state but none OMMA-approved — cultivators are getting different results.

“You can take the same sample to as many different laboratories as you want and you’ll get a different result from every single one,” he said, adding that tests can cost up to $375 per sample.

“I would like the state of Oklahoma’s left hand to know what the right hand is doing. It is blatantly obvious that they do not,” Miller said.

Kyle Felling, who owns F.A.S.T. Laboratories and is licensed through the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, said the current situation puts labs “in a little bit of a situation.”

“… Is the testing legal or not if you haven’t been licensed by OMMA yet?” he said.

The OMMA is expecting to open up cannabis testing labs applications on November 1. As of October 7, the agency has licensed 4,063 growers, 1,651 dispensaries and 1,168 processors.