Green State: Californians deserve safe, quality cannabis: an industry response to ‘dirty weed’

SOURCE: GreenState.com

EXCERPT:

The path forward is clear.

The state has the tools to address this problem. The whole point of “track-and-trace,” the state-mandated system that tracks cannabis from seed to shelf, is to bolster transparency and accountability. State regulators can view all test results. They can track adulterated products back to the source. They can independently verify test results. They can even view videos of sampling procedures. (None of these checks and balances exist for intoxicating hemp products, by the way.) 

Thus far, the DCC has been maddeningly slow in taking action against irresponsible actors in the industry. But that has recently started to change. In addition to the lab enforcement actions noted above, we’ve seen dozens of DCC product recalls and embargoes in the past six months. Hopefully, that trend continues. 

California consumers deserve to be confident that regulated cannabis is safe and accurately labeled. But the state can and should take additional steps to close gaps in our testing framework, such as 

1. Mandatory, Random Confirmatory Testing: The DCC should implement a robust random sampling program to identify labs that are misreporting results quickly. 

2. Scheduled Off-the-Shelf Comparison Testing: The DCC should periodically select products for comparison testing to check for lab accuracy and identify unintentional process errors. 

3. Publicly Available Certificates of Analysis (COAs): The DCC should make COAs publicly available to consumers to improve transparency and accountability. 

4. Mandatory Trace-Back Investigations: When product is found to be contaminated with pesticide, the DCC should trace the biomass back to the supplier to identify other potentially contaminated products. 

5. Expanded Testing Protocols: The DCC should expand testing protocols to include additional dangerous pesticides like those found in the LA Times investigation. And it should include mandatory testing for chemically synthesized THC, an unfortunate spill-over from the illegal intoxicating hemp market, which is rife with heavy metal contaminants and unnatural byproducts.

California has developed some of the world’s most rigorous cannabis testing standards to protect consumer safety and public health. The shoddy practices of a handful of players make a mockery of legal cannabis and its legacy as a medicine. It’s past time to weed out the bad actors.