Missouri Officials Announce Plans For Marijuana Testing Lab To Check Industry Claims About What’s In Cannabis Products

“There’s a financial incentive to exaggerate potency and to ignore adulterants.”

By Suzanne King, The Beacon

This story was originally published by The Beacon, an online news outlet focused on local, in-depth journalism in the public interest.

Missouri plans to spend millions from state marijuana taxes on a laboratory to help regulators keep tabs on the safety and potency of more than $1 billion of joints, edibles and other cannabis products sold annually across the state.

Health experts and consumer groups applauded the added regulatory check, outlined in an October 11 report about Missouri’s cannabis industry. A dozen other states already have quality assurance laboratories known as reference labs.

“We don’t want to just look at compliance with rules,” said Amy Moore, director of Missouri’s Division of Cannabis Regulation. “We want to look at the results as well.”

Moore said the new reference laboratory, which will operate out of the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory in Jefferson City, is expected to be fully operational by fall 2025. The state appropriated $3.8 million for the lab in fiscal year 2024 and $2.4 million in fiscal 2025.

Testing will include identifying the levels of cannabinoids, including the psychoactive compound THC, and looking

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