In an attempt to ensure tighter safety controls on Michigan’s cannabis industry, Rep. Mike Mueller (R-Linden) presented a bill to the Michigan House Rules Committee Jan. 16 that would establish a statewide cannabis reference laboratory to standardize testing facilities across the state.
The legislation, House Bill 4501, would establish a lab that was first given funding in the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations and that has been in the process of opening since then. Derek Sova, a policy and legislative assistant for the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency, explained to the committee that this bill was key to ensuring that the laboratory had the explicit authority to possess marijuana, given that it is still a federally illegal substance.
There are currently 17 privately-owned and state-licensed compliance facilities or testing labs for cannabis in Michigan, Sova said. But some growers will engage in what he called “lab shopping,” where they have their products tested by multiple labs until they get the results they want.
This lab, he said, “will allow us to go in and audit the test results of the private labs.”
Read more at Michigan Advance
