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Testing of Cannabis Products Is Complex, Differing From State to State

California's new marijuana laws clearly state that cannabis is not illegal to possess in prison, an appeals court rules, in a new legal wrinkle to  marijuana's changing status. Here, cannabis is seen for sale at a West Hollywood store.
Lucy Nicholson
/
Reuters
California's new marijuana laws clearly state that cannabis is not illegal to possess in prison, an appeals court rules, in a new legal wrinkle to marijuana's changing status. Here, cannabis is seen for sale at a West Hollywood store.

In New Jersey, cannabis products have to be tested for potency, for pesticides and for the presence of various microbials and mycotoxins, those that come from a fungus.

The sale of adult-use cannabis in New Jersey brings up the question of how the products are tested in a number of ways.

Unlike food and other products there is no federal standard. Private laboratories test the products. One is Belcosta Labs in southern California, which is looking to operate in New Jersey.

CEO Myron Ronay praised the Cannabis Regulatory Commission here for a testing regulation it has put in place.

“The CRC has actually put in a rule where they require the ATC’s (Alternative Treatment Centers) to have contracts, exclusive agreements, with laboratories to prevent lab shopping,” he said.

This prevents cannabis businesses from having products tested at different labs in an attempt to get more favorable results.

Ronay said the testing process gets complicated.

“Every state has different rules and different requirements and unlike food testing and other types of testing governed by the federal government there’s no standard across the board for lab testing today,” he said.

“There’s several different types of tests that are required for New Jersey, you’ve got different types of tests like potency for example, is a requirement, multiple pesticides, a requirement, you’ve got mycotoxins, microbials,” he said.

Ronay said he hopes to reach a deal to open a lab in New Jersey in the next few months.

Janice Kirkel is a lifelong award-winning journalist who has done everything from network newscasts to national and local sports reports to business newscasts to specialized reporting and editing in technical areas of business and finance such as bankruptcy, capital structure changes and reporting on the business of the investment business.