Michigan regulators have filed a formal administrative complaint accusing Prism Triangle, one of the state’s larger marijuana testing laboratories, of manipulating pesticide testing data tied to vape cartridges.
The allegations are technical and serious. Regulators say lab staff manually altered chromatogram peak integration during calibration checks in ways that made instruments appear properly calibrated when they were not, producing unreliable pesticide results on product that reached retail shelves. The complaint also alleges the use of an unapproved aspergillus testing method on multiple packages, bypassing validated procedures the lab was required to follow.
The state is seeking penalties that can include fines, license restrictions, suspension, or revocation. This is not a warning letter or a quiet corrective action. It is a public enforcement action aimed at the integrity of the testing lane.
💡 Why It Matters: This is obviously bigger than one lab, although the spotlight is most assuredly on Prism Triangle. The ripple, though, is going to impact policy beyond them, and most likely beyond Michigan.
Testing labs sit at the load-bearing point between public health promises and commercial reality. When a lab is accused of massaging calibration or methods, the risk spreads immediately. Brands that relied on those results face recall and reputation exposure they did not design for (but should have planned for). Regulators lose confidence in the paper trail that supports compliance decisions. Consumers lose trust in the safety story that keeps legalization politically durable.
Michigan has seen versions of this cycle, and so have other mature markets. Price compression pushes labs into volume and margin behavior. Margin behavior creates incentives to cut corners, and the corner that gets cut first is the one the average buyer cannot see. The industry pays for that twice, first in enforcement, then in public confidence.
Expect Michigan to tighten audits, method controls, and documentation expectations. Expect compliant labs to start selling defensibility as the product. Expect manufacturers to learn that cheap testing has an expensive second act.
Read more at Crain’s Detroit Business
