Connecticut approved an increased limit of mold and yeast allowed in medical marijuana at one of the state’s two cannabis testing labs through private emails last year, documents show. At the request of AltaSci Labs, the state Department of Consumer Protection agreed to raise the total passing level of yeast and mold from 10,000 colony forming units per gram to 1 million per gram for the lab, according to August 2020 emails obtained via a Hearst Connecticut Media Group public records request. The request, which also included the addition of testing for a specific genus of mold, was the result of a 2015 study and changes from other states, officials said. Meanwhile, at Northeast Laboratories, the state’s other cannabis testing facility, the passing limit remains 10,000 CFU per gram. Connecticut, which is in the throes of launching its adult-use recreational program, has about 54,000 medical marijuana patients who were not notified about the change in mold and yeast levels. State regulators argue that the looser restrictions paired with the addition of testing for the Aspergillus mold genus make the product safer. Not all states have set requirements for testing medical marijuana. The result: A patchwork set of regulations that varies widely from state to state, and in Connecticut’s case, from lab to lab.
420 Intel – Marijuana Industry News, 12/05/2021 19:00:00