Fourth California marijuana testing lab loses license as crackdown continues

California regulators revoked another commercial marijuana testing laboratory’s license in the past month, public records show.

The revocation of San Diego County-based Verity Analytics’ license – reflected in California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) permit information – comes as a long-awaited crackdown on unscrupulous labs continues.

Emails sent to Eric Aguilera, who is listed as Verity’s principal, were not returned.

Another California testing lab license revoked

Verity is the fourth California cannabis testing lab to lose its permit since December 2023, according to DCC spokesperson David Hafner.

The other three California cannabis testing labs that lost permits are:

• NCALC, doing business as THC Analytical: License revoked on Dec. 20, 2023.
• Salinas-headquartered ProForma Labs: License revoked on Feb. 16.
• Northridge-based California Cannabis Testing Labs: License canceled on July 24.

Most of the revocations stemmed from THC-potency inflation and sloppy lab practices.

But state regulators revoked ProForma’s permit after a reference lab discovered chlorfenapyr – a banned pesticide – in a product the lab had approved for retail sale.

ProForma Labs did not report detecting any chlorfenapyr, according to the DCC’s revocation notice.

Emails sent to addresses associated with ProForma’s permit were returned as undeliverable.

The permit revocations are part of a sharp decline in the number of active labs in California, a decrease that coincided with stricter enforcement of state standards.

“DCC’s enforcement actions, particularly against testing laboratories, underscores the Department’s focus on protecting consumer safety and the integrity of the legal cannabis market,” Hafner told MJBizDaily on Friday via email.

In January 2024, 37 testing labs were licensed in California, although two-thirds of them began the year unable to test flower after failing to comply with new testing standards, MJBizDaily reported at the time.

As of Friday, only 27 labs had active permits, according to DCC data.

The 27% decrease since Jan. 1 suggests some lab operators might have chosen to close rather than risk citation and fines.

Unscientific practices, unskilled lab staff

Records show Verity Analytics was cited and fined in January, before its license was suspended in April for 12 violations.

According to a copy of the DCC’s April 19 suspension notice, obtained through a public records request, the regulator alleged Verity Analytics inflated THC potency by as much as 32%.

The DCC also found that Parinaz Rostamzadeh, Verity’s laboratory director, would clear samples for pesticide contamination “based on her visual inspection of the chromatogram, and not based on any scientific criteria.”

“Reporting non-detects that are not based on any recognized scientific criteria may allow for the passing of pesticide samples that should fail testing,” the DCC stated in its April 19 notice.

Verity also employed an analyst who “did not meet the (minimum) degree, coursework and practical experience required” to work at a licensed lab, according to the agency.

Banned pesticide discovered

According to DCC notices obtained by MJBizDaily via public-records request, each of the four the labs that lost their permits over the past year inflated THC potency, with one lab allegedly inflating the THC potency of flower samples by nearly 50%.

According to the DCC, ProForma Labs reported cannabis flower contained 24% THC; DCC test results of products from the same batch showed 16% THC.

The lab also reported no presence of chlorfenapyr in two samples, while a DCC reference lab found samples contained the banned pesticide at rates of 0.37 and 0.4 parts per million.

That’s well below the level where adverse effects can be expected, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

That a banned pesticide appeared at all raises questions about the trustworthiness of state-regulated labs – as well as regulators’ ability to catch bad actors.

Suspended lab back in business

Another state-licensed cannabis testing lab, Yuba County-based California Ag Labs, saw its permit suspended for two months in February.

California Ag’s permit is currently active, according to DCC data, indicating that it corrected deficiencies.

But according to a suspension notice dated Feb. 1, 2024, the lab was in business despite “an incomplete certificate of accreditation,” which was issued in April 2023 and was “missing required test methods and required analytes for Residual Pesticides and Mycotoxins.”

And in December 2023, the lab failed to provide evidence that its testing methods for heavy metals, mold, pesticides and solvents were valid, the DCC said in the suspension notice.

Robert Myers, the lab’s principal, told MJBizDaily in a phone interview Friday that a bureaucratic fumble triggered the suspension, which lasted “less than 12 hours” before the DCC reinstated his permit.

The agency claimed not to have received data that the lab submitted on time, Myers said.

The DCC was not available Friday to corroborate his claim.

Lab testing enforcement needed

Cannabis operators including licensed labs have complained for years about THC-potency inflation as well as labs failing to report banned pesticides and dangerous contaminants – whether deliberately or through incompetence.

Several lab operators contacted by MJBizDaily last week welcomed what they interpret as a sign that regulators are acknowledging the problem.

However, they stressed much more needs to be done to police unscrupulous labs and rebuild consumer and industry confidence in testing reliability.

“The fact that they’re revoking licenses and not renewing licenses is certainly a step in the right direction,” said Zachary Eisenberg, vice president of San Francisco-based cannabis testing lab Anresco Laboratories, which is licensed by the state.

Anresco was one of at least three labs that directly alerted DCC Director Nicole Elliott about cannabis testing problems during the past year.

In the meantime, labs that refused to inflate THC potency to please clients or take a lax approach toward pesticide or mold have gone out of business, he said.

“It’s too late for them,” Eisenberg said.

“And it still hurt us.”

Plus, questions remain about internal DCC practices remain unanswered.

Last week, Tanisha Bogans, the DCC’s former deputy director of laboratory services, claimed in a whistleblower lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court that she was fired after her superiors – including Elliott – dismissed repeated warnings.

Bogans claims she went to DCC officials as well as state law enforcement with “concerns about Category 1 pesticides found in products available on the shelf” but received no response.

Category 1 pesticides are the most harmful and are generally banned outright in California’s state-regulated marijuana market.

Unknown health and safety risk

It’s unclear how much product the shuttered labs might have tested that was later sold to consumers.

That data would be captured in state track-and-trace records, which are protected from public disclosure by state law.

Still, tainted product almost certainly has reached consumers in California and other states.

Regulators have stepped up product recalls in recent months, but industry operators agree that most recalls for cannabis sold more than two months ago are too late to identify such products before they are sold and consumed.

Meanwhile, lab principals and industry operators warn that unethical testing behavior is a problem across the country – particularly in states where regulators aren’t verifying results through a reference laboratory.

For example, Florida – the country’s largest medical-only marijuana market, where an adult-use legalization measure will appear on the November ballot – has no verification program, said Roger Brown, president of ACS Laboratories, a state- and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-licensed testing lab in Sun City Center, Florida.

“They have the equipment sitting in boxes for the past couple of years,” Brown told MJBizDaily in a phone interview.

“What they’re doing is allowing patients to get patently ripped off.”

Chris Roberts can be reached at chris.roberts@mjbizdaily.com.