The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Marijuana Enforcement Division expect to mandate the testing of retail marijuana sold legally in the state for contaminants such as mold and bacteria, said Jill Lamoureux, director of government relations for CannLabs.î The state currently only requires testing for edibles potency. The demand for testing is being met by newly opened cannabis testing laboratories; labs test for THC potency as well as contaminants.Once enough labs are in place and certified by the state, the CDPH and MED will require retail marijuana to be tested for five microbial contaminants. E. Coli and Salmonella are the bacteria of concern, and three species of mold are considered common and dangerous enough in marijuana to test for and eliminate, said Andy LaFrate, president of Charas Scientific Labs, in an August 2014 webinar hosted by the laboratory.Gobi Analytical and CannLabs are two major labs that now offer microbial testing as well as consulting services to help grow operations and to help dispensaries mitigate contamination sources. CannLabs recommends that pot producers begin testing voluntarily soon in order to get ahead of any problems with contaminants. It’s important to get a testing procedure in place to prevent a shut down and the destruction of crops, said Jennifer Frame, senior microbiologist for CannLabs.While microbiological contamination was thought to be common with illegal marijuana, little testing or public health data was available about the impacts of mold and bacteria. ìSince it wasn’t tested, we have no idea how bad it was in the old days,î Frame said. ìEveryone heard about the Mexican weed. But no one really talked about it because they didn’t want to talk about it.îCannLabs offers a purity certification label that dispensaries can apply to their product or business to let customers know the marijuana grow operations complied with the voluntary testing procedures. Washington State, which legalized recreational marijuana shortly after Colorado, has already implemented mandatory purity testing.ìThere have been reports of marijuana being contaminated by mold, bacteria and pesticides,î according to the CDPHE’s Health Effects of Marijuana fact sheet. ìSome contamination issues have led to disease outbreaks and other health problems.î Washington State officials reject about 13 percent of marijuana products offered for sale in their state because of microbial contamination, according to a March article in Smithsonian Magazine.Retail marijuana has a ways to go before it is considered as uniformly safe and contaminant-free as traditional food products. CannLabs and the other Colorado-based marijuana laboratories expect that consumers will gradually begin to demand quality and safety control in the same way they do for beef, milk and prepared foods. ìAs a seller of a product, it’s just like a restaurant ñó if you have a bad experience with the food, you won’t come back,î Frame said. ìPlenty of bars and restaurants have ended up closing because of that.î
