California regulators have been stepping up their enforcement on cannabis testing labs, and recently, another lab in San Diego County, Verity Analytics, had its license revoked.
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This move is part of a broader effort by the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) to crack down on labs that aren't following the rules. According to public records, this is the fourth lab to lose its permit since December 2023.
David Hafner, a spokesperson for the DCC, shared that Verity joins three other labs in having its license revoked:
NCALC, doing business as THC Analytical (Dec. 2023)
ProForma Labs (Feb. 2024)
California Cannabis Testing Labs (July 2024)
Most of these closures are linked to issues like inflating THC potency or poor lab practices. In the case of ProForma Labs, they lost their permit after a banned pesticide, chlorfenapyr, was found in a product that the lab had approved for sale. The lab didn’t report the pesticide, which led to its revocation. Unfortunately, attempts to contact Verity Analytics or ProForma Labs didn’t yield any responses.
This series of revocations aligns with a larger trend in the state, where the number of active cannabis testing labs has sharply dropped. In January 2024, California had 37 licensed labs, but by September, that number had fallen to just 27. Some labs might have opted to close rather than risk penalties for non-compliance.
Hafner commented, “DCC’s enforcement actions, particularly against testing laboratories, underscore the Department’s focus on protecting consumer safety and the integrity of the legal cannabis market.”
Verity Analytics, before losing its license, had been cited and fined for several violations earlier in the year. A public records request revealed that the lab had inflated THC potency by as much as 32%. The DCC also flagged unscientific practices at the lab, including instances where the lab director, Parinaz Rostamzadeh, cleared samples for pesticide contamination based on a visual inspection rather than proper scientific methods.
Additionally, an analyst at Verity didn’t meet the required qualifications to work at a licensed lab, raising further concerns about the lab's operations.
The issues with inflated THC potency weren’t limited to Verity. According to DCC records, all four labs that lost their permits over the past year had inflated THC levels. In one extreme case, a lab reported 24% THC in a flower sample that, when re-tested by the DCC, showed only 16%. ProForma Labs also falsely reported that certain samples contained no chlorfenapyr, but the DCC found the banned pesticide in two samples at low but detectable levels.
While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers the detected levels below those likely to cause harm, the mere presence of the banned pesticide raises concerns about the reliability of lab results and the ability of regulators to catch these issues.
One lab, California Ag Labs, had its permit suspended in February due to an incomplete accreditation certificate and issues with testing methods. However, the lab was able to correct its deficiencies, and its permit is now active again. Robert Myers, the lab's principal, said the suspension was due to a bureaucratic error, claiming the DCC lost data that the lab had submitted on time.
For years, operators in the cannabis industry have complained about labs inflating THC potency or failing to catch dangerous contaminants. While some operators welcomed the recent enforcement actions, they emphasized that more needs to be done to root out bad actors and restore trust in the testing process.
“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 Anresco Laboratories, a licensed cannabis testing lab in San Francisco.
Eisenberg noted that some labs that played by the rules and refused to inflate THC potency have already gone out of business. “It’s too late for them,” he said. “And it still hurt us.”
There are also unresolved concerns about the DCC’s internal practices. Last week, a whistleblower lawsuit was filed by the DCC’s former deputy director of laboratory services, Tanisha Bogans, alleging she was fired for raising concerns about banned pesticides in products that were available to consumers. Bogans claimed that her warnings to DCC leadership and law enforcement were ignored.
While the full extent of the impact from these labs' closure is unclear, it’s likely that some tainted products made it to consumers before the issues were caught. Although regulators have increased product recalls recently, many in the industry believe that more needs to be done, especially considering the lack of robust testing oversight in other states. For instance, Roger Brown, president of ACS Laboratories in Florida, pointed out that in Florida, the equipment needed to verify lab results has been sitting unused for years, leaving patients vulnerable to inaccurate testing.
“What they’re doing is allowing patients to get patently ripped off,” Brown said.
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