Cannabis laboratories in Washington will have six months from July 1 to become compliant with the state’s new, more stringent standards and receive accreditation from the state Department of Agriculture. The new authority to accredit cannabis labs comes after five years of the department overseeing the testing process in Washington.
“None of this changes the product standards,” says Nick Mosely, CEO of Confidence Analytics, a Washington-based, ISO-accredited cannabis laboratory. “It almost certainly will affect the price of testing.”
Mosely says that while the standards haven’t changed, Washington labs now must adopt a WSDA-approved testing method or submit an alternate method for the WDSA’s approval. The prior accepted testing methods in Washington were somewhat nebulous, he says.
“None of this was defined before; it was previously defined as ‘appropriate,’ and that left a lot to interpretation,” Mosely says. “Before, labs could kind of define their own testing standard, but now it’s being defined for them.”
Another change to Washington’s testing sector was the seeming withdrawal of the state’s Department of Ecology. Initially, the Department of Ecology was supposed to be the agency accrediting labs, as the department was first directed to develop lab quality standards in response to allegations of THC inflation and lab shopping within the market sector in 2019. But the WSDA submitted a request to the Legislature to give it the power to accredit labs while also developing new standards according to a WSDA press release.
“Everyone is pretty polite about the language, but the Department of Ecology was stonewalling the process,” Mosely says. “So, the WSDA stepped up as it already has hemp and cannabis divisions it cares about.”
Mosely says that as one of the only two ISO-accredited cannabis testing labs in the state (along with Medicine Creek Analytics) he feels confident in earning accreditation within the six-month window, but his company, and possibly the sector as a whole, will need to ramp up to meet the new requirements.
“We feel very prepared,” he says. “We have a lot of work to do and if we have work to do then other labs do to.”
ISO accreditation is not required for testing labs participating Washington’s recreational cannabis program. However, it is required for labs participating in the state’s recently overhauled medical program. And while the rules governing the medical program have been postponed until September, Mosely says the number of participating brands has spiked considerably.
“There were only three brands about three months ago, now there are more than 40 participating in the medical program,” Mosely says.