Linda Palmatier recently closed her Kalamazoo cannabis testing facility, The Spott Laboratory, hoping state regulators create what she sees as a more level playing field for business owners.
Palmatier, who opened The Spott Laboratory in 2014 while Michigan had only legalized medical marijuana, and others say the state’s business climate for state-licensed safety compliance facilities has run astray.
These facilities are critical links in Michigan’s nearly $2 billion cannabis market, ensuring commercially grown products are safe for human consumption and free of harmful chemicals.
However, controversy has clouded the sector, including with a key legal dispute between the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency and a single company that has captured a majority of the testing market. Viridis Laboratories’ two locations in Lansing and Bay City test more than 60 percent of the state’s product, according to Viridis executives.
Both operators and regulators have accused the company of supporting “lab shopping” in which growers and processors seek a specific lab to yield higher THC results, which typically create higher-priced products. As of June 30, 2022, Michigan had 19 active safety compliance facility licensees.
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