Florida regulators slapped two marijuana testing labs with thousands of dollars in fines for allegedly reporting false or inaccurate information on their certificates of analysis.
The issue of THC potency results and lab testing is a hot topic in the cannabis industry right now because some see companies’ obsession with potency as problematic and potentially leading to unethical business behavior.
The Florida health department on Aug. 12 determined that ACS Laboratory, based in Sun City Center, was out of compliance after a discrepancy over how flower THC potency was labeled on certificates of analysis (COA).
According to documents provided to MJBizDaily, the COAs from ACS showed flower potency calculated at dry weight and the total milligrams of THC reported at wet weight.
That happened in two batches, according to one of the reports.
Florida regulations mandate that “usable whole flower potency” must be reported at the same moisture content.
In response, the state fined ACS a total of $5,000.
In another report dated July 26, ACS fell afoul of state regulators for another compliance violation.
This time, Trulieve Cannabis notified the state it had destroyed a batch of marijuana product after it failed testing.
But ACS did not notify the state of the testing failure, which, under state law, must be done within 24 hours.
In response, the state fined ACS $5,000.
State regulators also reported on Aug. 12 that Tampa-based Method Testing Laboratories was not in compliance stemming from discrepancies in submitted samples.
The state investigated and found that potency numbers for flower testing by Method were adjusted to dry weight, which violated the rule for reporting results at the same moisture content.
The state fined Method Labs $6,000 for reporting inaccurate information on six COAs.
Bart Schaneman can be reached at bart.schaneman@mjbizdaily.com.
