Still, some states have managed to set
up their own proficiency programs. In
2016, Nevada began to send cannabis sam-
ples to certified labs across the state and to
evaluate the consistency of the results. And
in 2014, California-based Emerald Scien-
tific launched a proficiency test involving
various products spiked with low but trace-
able concentrations of THC. Nearly a hun-
dred US labs participate, Kirsten Blake, the
company’s vice president, tells The Scientist
in an email, either voluntarily or as a part
of the ISO 17025 certification.
In addition to improved proficiency
testing, Johnson would like to see the can-
nabis industry adopt standardized test-
ing procedures. Another organization she
works for, a Maryland-based nonprofit
called AOAC that develops standardized
methods for agricultural testing, recently
published two methods of analysis for
evaluating THC and CBD potency in can-
nabis, from extraction to interpretation of
results. Some labs have already adopted
the standards. Doing the same for safety
testing, however, will be more challenging,
Johnson says, because states differ widely
in how (or whether) they regulate pesti-
cide use in cannabis cultivation.
Agreeing on what testing standards
should be is also difficult, Kiloh notes.
As some companies have argued, the
more stringent the standards, the more
expensive they’ll be to adopt, which
raises the bar for newcomers and less
established companies, potentially sti-
fling industry growth. On the other
hand, Kiloh says he worries that looser
standards could allow companies to try
to undercut competition by running
tests as cheaply and as quickly as pos-
sible—a situation that could cripple the
business of established, reputable labs
and compromise the safety and integ-
rity of cannabis products, not to men-
tion consumer trust.
“We started a billion-dollar industry
not more than a couple of years ago,” Kiloh
says. Finding standards that keep consum-
ers safe and informed while also allowing
the young cannabis-testing industry to
thrive will take time, he says. “We still have
some work to do to get to very clear stan-
dards for testing in labs.” gKatarina Zimmer is a New York–based
freelance journalist. Find her on Twitter
@katarinazimmer.BAD BEHAVIOR
While most issues with potency and safety measurements in the cannabis industry stem from
a lack of standardized methods, there have also been reports of bad behavior.
Sometimes, it could be the cultivators who are being dishonest. In many areas, cannabis
growers themselves typically choose the samples they send in for testing, which may allow
them to infl uence testing results by cherry-picking samples known to have higher THC
concentrations or to be free of contaminants.
Other times, the testing labs are to blame. In one high-profi le 2018 case, for example,
California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control caught the director of Sequoia Analytical Labs in
Sacramento fabricating pesticide testing results for hundreds of batches of cannabis.
Even without direct data manipulation, labs can enhance results—for example, by using
testing protocols likely to infl ate potency measurements.
James MacRae, a data scientist and founder of the cannabis consultancy fi rm Straight
Line Analytics, began investigating Washington State’s cannabis testing several years ago
and found that the labs most likely to approve batches for safety also produced high scores
for THC concentrations. Some results were so infl ated they were virtually impossible,
statistically speaking, and eventually led to regulators shutting down one of the state’s
largest testing labs in 2017.
Growers can take advantage of this system to try out diff erent labs until they fi nd one that
gives them desirable results, a practice MacRae calls “lab shopping,” which in turn benefi ts
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