A recent shake-up in the cannabis testing industry in Washington state has resulted in the formation of a new regulatory group: Washington Cannabis Laboratory Association (WCLA). Supported by the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) and its contracted laboratory accreditation group, the RJ Lee Group, the new organization consists of existing licensed laboratories who seek the standardization of testing results and requirements for the purpose of reigning in poor results accuracy, gaming and data manipulation.
Over the past year, laboratories have discussed the lack of alignment of results from several laboratories, but found gaining traction to be difficult due to many constraints including enforcement shortcomings of Initiative 502 and an industry economic model that seemingly encourages unsavory business practices. On Feb. 10, Confidence Analytics emailed a call to action to all of the state’s laboratory owners containing an anonymized statistical analysis of laboratory results in 2015. The data clearly illustrated differences between laboratory results, graphically showing which labs have failed to report samples failing microbial and residual solvent tests, as well as apparent systematic inflation of cannabinoid results. Owners of the labs representing the vast majority of sample testing immediately signed on to the formation of the group.
On March 7, following collaborative review of laboratory results data within the state’s traceability database, a group of laboratory owners and staff from across Washington (as well as representatives of the LCB and RJ Lee Group) gathered in Ellensburg, Washington to begin the process of developing a normative framework and self-policing program. Over the next two months, participating laboratories will be working with a third-party validation lab to conduct a detailed inter-laboratory comparison sometimes referred to as “proficiency testing.” This test will critically analyze laboratory results from each lab against each other, as well as against all participating laboratories world-wide. While it is hoped that laboratories finding themselves out of alignment will modify their methods and practices to correct inaccuracies, enforcement methods from the LCB and RJ Lee Group are yet to be determined. Jodi Davis, the state’s marijuana examiner program supervisor, noted at the meeting that while the most recent proposed ruleset currently under modification and public comment period does provide the LCB with express authority to revoke a lab’s license for any reason, the board is still fleshing out a robust system with formal sanctions and due process.
The data laboratories produce for the cannabis industry are valuable, and inaccuracies within that data diminish its utility. As a critical stakeholder group, everyone stands to gain from collaborative efforts to understand the sources of error and bias within the collective traceability data set, and to take appropriate steps to eliminate such burdens. With support of the LCB, the Department of Health, the Department of Agriculture and RJ Lee, among others, the group hopes for a continually enhanced awareness of sources of laboratory error and bias, enabling them to take appropriate mitigation steps and align outcomes.