A major cannabis testing lab in Mississippi has been shut down by the state’s regulator after toxins were discovered in samples it had cleared.
Last week, the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) revoked the license of Rapid Analytics, one of the state’s three medical cannabis testing labs which was once responsible for testing 70% of the products in the state.
According to the Mississippi Free Press, the revocation follows a two-month investigation into the lab which found ‘significant deviations from the regulators’.
In December last year, the MSDH temporarily suspended Rapid Analytics’ licence after receiving an anonymous tip regarding the lab’s practices.
Weeks later, it was revealed that a test had been conducted on the same sample by both Rapid Analytics and Steep Hill, another Mississippi testing lab, with the latter finding multiple impurities but Rapid Analytics giving the sample the green light.
A full scale investigation was subsequently launched, the results of which will be made public after the 20-day appeals period for the suspension has passed. Rapid Analytics is expected to appeal the decision.
Meanwhile, with only two operational testing labs in the state, which now boasts over 32,000 medical cannabis patients, testing times are understood to have increased significantly.
The industry is now calling for the MSDH to licence more testing labs in order to speed up the process, which is now reportedly taking two to three times as long as it did before the December suspension of Rapid Analytics.
