Lax state laws and sleepy enforcement allowed potentially contaminated cannabis products in Colorado to reach retailers – and be sold to unsuspecting consumers, a new state audit released Monday found.
Several “deficiencies and gaps in (Colorado’s) marijuana safety framework” hamper state regulators’ ability to “identify and respond to health and safety risks,” according to an Office of the State Auditor review.
“As a result, there’s an increased risk that marijuana products sold in Colorado may have contaminants or may inaccurately list potency,” audit supervisor Catherine Friday told state lawmakers on Monday, according to Colorado Newsline.
The audit is a scathing critique of one of the country’s oldest legal cannabis markets, and threatens to sow uncertainty around one of legal cannabis’ core promises: that consumers can trust they are purchasing and ingesting product they can trust is safe.
Is Colorado legal cannabis unsafe?
The audit made five key findings.
- The state’s lack of a “fully functional reference lab to assist with testing marijuana products” renders it unable to “provide independent and comprehensive product testing.”
- Current standards for cannabis product testing and MED’s “limited and inconsistent monitoring” hamper “MED’s ability to identify product safety risks” and ensure that businesses comply with product safety requirements
- MED issues public safety alerts too slowly and could “improve the effectiveness” of public advisories
- State-licensed cannabis testing labs need better oversight from the state Department of the Public Health & Environment
Cannabis companies are also allowed to select what they send onto testing labs as representative samples from a larger batch. And it can take as much as three years for state inspectors to visit cannabis businesses, the audit found.
While the auditors did not find evidence of “widespread health and safety issues with regulated marijuana products,” MED officials acknowledged the need to improve.
However, a state reference lab operated by the state DPHE will need “about $13 million” to adequately test for “pesticides, residual solvents and mycotoxins,” Newsline reported.
How did potentially contaminated cannabis reach Colorado consumers?
The audit comes on the heels of a massive product recall and reports of adverse health effects connected to cannabis vaporizers potentially contaminated with a cancer-causing solvent.
It also follows years of complaints from industry watchdogs that licensed commercial cannabis testing laboratories have financial incentive to inflate THC potency results and clear cannabis contaminated with pesticides and mold for sale.
As of Oct. 9, the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment had received 38 reports of adverse health effects linked to vape products manufactured by StayCon, which operates under the business name Craft.
However, some of the vaporizer cartridges voluntarily recalled by StayCon first reached cannabis store shelves more than 18 months ago, according to The Denver Gazette.
StayCon’s recall notice blamed a “botanically derived” flavoring compound for the methylene chloride, the newspaper reported.
Are cannabis recalls too slow to capture contaminated product?
The lab discovered the solvent in mid-August, according to The Gazette. However, it took more than six weeks for the state Marijuana Enforcement Division to issue its own advisory.
The audit also follows revelations that the maker of cannabis products marketed as sleep aids began receiving complaints of adverse health effects as early as 2020.
However, a state health advisory did not follow until 2023.
Similar problems can be found across the country, with recalls generally only coming well after products have reached store shelves and been sold.
