Should you trust the testing labels you find in cannabis dispensaries? Government regulations are meant to be an effective shield against blatant contamination. Products, particularly consumable ones, are supposed to meet high safety standards before they can be sold.
Cannabis, however, is in a unique position. Blossoming recreational and medical laws have created an urgent need for independent testing facilities and these discrepancies have created a mess. There’s no federal policy dictating requirements for cannabis testing laboratories.
The lack of government oversight has resulted in a hodgepodge of different laws. In an attempt to introduce rigorous standards to the cannabis industry and now some jurisdictions now require all testing laboratories to meet ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation standards.
By achieving ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation it addresses the concerns throughout the cannabis industry regarding insufficient and unreliable scientific analysis by providing our clients with state-required tests that are accredited by an international standard.
Accreditation is critical to the cannabis industry. Cannabis products are consumed, and contaminants and infections in the flower or oil can easily make their way into your body. For medical patients who might be immunocompromised, this is a big risk and their cannabis needs to be free of dangerous foreign particles.
What is ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation?
A lot of cannabis consumers put faith in ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation, it is the International Organization for Standardization is an independent, international body that accredits testing facilities or laboratories so they can be trusted.
ISO/IEC 17025 labs test for cannabinoids, pesticides, and contaminants so staff members are required to meet basic training standards. Stringent accreditation requirements are a good first step toward ensuring quality cannabis is sold without the weight of the federal government behind the regulations.
Since federal involvement in the cannabis industry is not a reality, some jurisdictions, have turned to independent, third-party auditing bodies to help ensure labs are compliant with state regulations. Some cannabis testing labs have been suspected of fudging their numbers.
The problem is some cannabis testing companies rely totally on cannabis industry income so if you’re not happy and you leave, where else are they going to get business from? Cannabis growers only have to submit a small sample of each batch to be tested.
An unscrupulous grower might submit strain A to be tested only to turn around and start selling strain B. There is no assurance that what the lab tested and what they are now selling to someone else is the same product. The cannabis industry is evolving rapidly and is trying to implement strict quality standards.
Requiring ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation for cannabis testing labs helps better ensure that consumers are purchasing high-quality, safe products. However, accreditation hasn’t been enough to guarantee product safety. Scheming labs and greedy growers can still trick the system.
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