There is no surprise that an addiction for profit sector, rabidly promoting it’s wildly variable ‘products’ in a mad cash grab to get consumers hooked on consumables, would see the following manifestations of corruption and dysfunction.

The other unsurprising outcome of the following revelations is yet another verification of a now utterly smashed promise of the pro-pot lobby – the promise that we’d no longer have to ‘police’ cannabis use and all the savings from that outcome would cover any negative downside to legalising this drug.

Well not only has traditional policing (investigation and prosecution) not stopped in having to manage the behavioural and criminal outcomes of increasing community cannabis use, but second tier ‘policing’ (monitoring and regulation enforcement) has skyrocketed, with new bureaucracies, regulations, testings and then the policing of the mismanagement of those bureaucracies, regulations and testings!

The absurdity of all this would be laughable if it weren’t for the ever-growing harms to our community – not least road toll, mental health harms and child poisonings.

Will governments continue to believe the pro-pot propaganda of fiscal benefits of an addiction for profit product that cannot compete with ongoing illicit market? Who will pay for the ever-increasing community costs being incurred by this sector?

Historically the answer to the above questions is almost invariably the tax-payer, and overwhelmingly the non-drug using tax-payer.

Research Team

Headlines…

Big recall ordered of pot products after Sacramento lab is caught faking tests: Sacramento-based Sequoia Analytical Lab was caught falsifying test results for pesticides… The laboratory closed down and surrendered its business license after state inspectors discovered on Nov. 27 that the director, identified as Marc Foster, had for four months been faking test results for 22 of the 66 pesticides he was required under California law to analyze. “The lab director... was secretly falsifying the results” between July 1 and Nov. 27…It means nearly 850 batches — tens of thousands of pounds of flower, edibles and marijuana products — will have to be returned and either destroyed or retested. The notice sent by the Bureau of Cannabis Control asked the 29 companies to request the return of all cannabis products that were tested at Sequoia. The recall and closure could cause major complications in the cannabis industry, where the 43 licensed cannabis testing labs in California have to add new testing guidelines for heavy metals next year

Marijuana lab suspected of doctoring THC, contaminants data faces license revocation:

• Routinely passing samples that had previously failed testing for pesticides, microtoxins, heavy metals and microbials, all regulated contaminants. Samples, which are supposed to be tested once, were sometimes tested up to five times before "passing." 
• Routinely inflating THC levels up to 5 percent higher than the actual THC levels. THC potency is known to drive higher retail prices. 
• Failing to properly dispose of more than 12,000 samples. 
• Failing to properly train lab employees, who were found to lack competency in not only conducting tests but analyzing data.  
• Failing to provide proper security and record keeping at lab facility. 

Former HEKA, Inc. employee expresses concerns on cannabis growing process: The Cannabis Control Commission has strict policies that local dispensaries are required to follow. This includes sending their plants in for testing, which the former employee said the company has found a way around that. “Out of a batch of maybe a thousand plants, you only have to send in a few grams, of that batch to be tested so those will be hand selected thoroughly to make sure that they are clean. Once those selected samples pass testing, the remainder of the batch then automatically gets passed for testing,” the former employee explained.

Marijuana Products Recalled In Arizona For Potential Bacteria, Fungus Contamination: Several Arizona marijuana establishments have initiated a voluntary recall of specific marijuana products due to possible contamination.
Products being recalled:
- Caps Frozen Lemon
- Twisted Lemonz
- Cherry Punch
- Ghost Train Haze

Downturn in California lab-tested marijuana batches adds to confusion over state’s supply chain: The number of marijuana product batches undergoing laboratory testing in California has dipped in recent months…the number of product batches tested has dropped by 20% between April and June. In April, the number of product batches tested hit a 2019 high of 5,113. But in June, that dropped to just 4,111, not far above last October’s total of 3,417 batches tested

California marijuana recall threatens state cannabis industry: Under California law, all consumable marijuana products for sale must be tested and analyzed for 66 known pesticides. Agents found Sequoia's lab director Marc Foster had been faking reports since July about testing for 22 of the pesticides and was fired… Berkeley's Steep Hill Labs was suspended for 10 weeks earlier this year after it failed to meet state testing protocols for two pesticides. Some industry insiders have said that they don't believe the laboratories are even capable of testing cannabis to the precision required by regulators.

Also see

• Cannabis Black Market Thrives Despite Legalization (Rutgers)
• Promised benefits of legalising cannabis are hot air – The Utterly Failed Promises of Cannabis Industry
• Huge surge in blackmarket cannabis trade and organised crime in California DESPITE drug being legalised, cops reveal in warning to UK
• California Cannabis Industry Sending SOS To State Leaders As Black Market Continues To Thrive
• Industry Can't Compete with Continuing Illegal Market
• Legalize cannabis and a veritable cornucopia will emerge.
• Cannabis and Tax Revenues! Still a Failed Promise – But the Cost of Harms Continues to Rise! (This is not an experiment we want in Oz)
• Then There were Three – Marijuana Markets paper