The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (“Board”, “LCB”) voted in March to adopt new final rules effective April 2, 2022 that require all cannabis flower and intermediate cannabis products to be tested for pesticide contamination. The LCB Chair David Postman stated in the Board’s release that:
“testing for pesticides and heavy metals adds a deeper layer of confidence for consumers that these [cannabis] products are free of chemical or biological residuals”.
The Board’s consumer safety concern is indeed a legitimate one as recreational use cannabis producers were previously not required to test for pesticides at all. According to Confidence Analytics, Inc., a WA licensed cannabis testing laboratory, in a white paper released in February, the issue of pesticide contamination in cannabis products in the state is serious. This is particularly true in the case of cannabis concentrate-related products that, when tested on an “off the shelf” basis in 2018, had pesticide failure rate as high as 40%.
The newly adopted rules will impact many parts of the recreational cannabis market, but for purposes of this post the most significant are:
pesticide testing is now required for cannabis flower and all intermediate cannabis products that are used in the
Read full article on HarrisBricken
