Familiar complaints of THC potency inflation, unsafe product and unscrupulous operators profiting via “lab-shopping” continue to plague the $600 million Oklahoma cannabis industry, according to a recent report from Oklahoma Watch.
That’s in part because, despite spending nearly $5 million over the past three years to develop a state-run “reference lab,” the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) lab is still not yet up and running, authorities say.
Complaints of commercial cannabis testing laboratories delivering inconsistent results for purity as well as THC potency have been made across the country for years.
That’s on top of specific allegations of corruption from operators and competitors that certain labs will deliver desired results for a fee.
“If you take a product to seven different labs, you’re going to get seven different results,” Felina Rivera, an attorney for one Oklahoma cannabis operator, told Oklahoma Watch.
What is a cannabis ‘reference lab’?
State-run so-called “reference labs” are one solution for the cannabis industry’s lab woes. The state-run reference lab is meant to establish a reliable, third-party baseline.
In states with reference labs, products that print test results divergent from the reference lab’s findings may be recalled.
Such oversight is necessary to ensure that honest labs stay in business, advocates say. If there’s no oversight, all the business goes to labs willing to massage results for their clients.
According to Oklahoma Watch, OMMA officials admit that lab shopping “remains an issue” in cannabis across the country.
Why is Oklahoma slow to open a cannabis reference lab?
In 2023, state lawmakers passed a bill authorizing OMMA to create an independent, state-run quality assurance laboratory.
According to the latest state update as of June, the lab has all the necessary equipment “and is fully operational” and is accredited, but is still in the process of developing “method” and “validation.”
The lab is projected to finish method validation for terpenes and water activity (a precursor for mold) by August, and for heavy metals, bacteria, mold and residual solvents by September, according to an update on the OMMA website.
That puts the lab well behind schedule on its initially promised open date of 2025.
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In the meantime, labs appear to be exiting the Oklahoma medical marijuana industry.
In 2022, the number of labs serving Oklahoma peaked at 31.
As of July 1, there were only 13 licensed labs left in the state, according to OMMA.
