Testing Lab Suspends Operations

Testing Technologies in Poulsbo, Washington State, has hit pause on its cannabis testing services after firing its science director, alleging that potency values were “pulled from thin air” and that tests for contaminants were inaccurate.

The company’s CEO, Larry Ward, announced the situation in a letter to customers, according to the Seattle Times.

But the company’s erstwhile science director, Dustin Newman, who was fired Feb. 10, countered with his own letter alleging Ward let him go because of business disputes.

Ward blamed a profit-sharing arrangement with Newman that incentivized the scientist to produce business-friendly results.

To avoid such problems in the future, Ward said he would contract rather than hire his scientific directors. For now, the lab can’t test until it finds a new science chief and receives a new state certification.

Regulators from Washington’s Liquor and Cannabis Board met with officials from the state’s 11 other labs on March 7 to discuss how to improve testing standards.

Jim MacRae, a data scientist who analyzed the results of the state’s 12 labs last year, told the Times on Monday that Testing Technologies had the most business-friendly rating of the labs.

Earlier, MacRae said there were four labs that didn’t fail any cannabis for contaminants, while two labs failed 44% of the product they tested, a variation that he said was illogical.