Oklahoma Lawmakers Probe Medical Marijuana Lab Testing After Patients Voice Distrust

Lawmakers Hear Testing Concerns

Oklahoma lawmakers spent Tuesday morning at the state Capitol examining whether the medical marijuana industry’s testing labs can be trusted. Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, a Democrat from Norman, hosted the interim study after saying he and patients had become sick after using marijuana products.

Oklahoma currently relies on roughly a dozen independent laboratories to confirm that marijuana products meet safety and quality standards before they reach patients, according to Oklahoma Voice. State law requires those labs to test samples from every final harvest or production batch across seven categories, including pesticides, potency, terpenes and heavy metals, as reported by Oklahoma Watch.

Despite that requirement, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority has taken 29 enforcement actions against independent testing laboratories since the program began, per the same Oklahoma Watch report. Marion McNabb, a cannabis and policy researcher, told lawmakers that laboratory shopping remains central to the problem.

“Lab shopping is exactly the core of the problem,” McNabb has said, according to Oklahoma Watch’s reporting. McNabb told the interim study that roughly 30% of surveyed Oklahoma medical marijuana patients distrust laboratory testing accuracy to some degree, citing a recent report.

Surveyed marijuana business owners separately reported insufficient transparency and communication about testing requirements, along with concerns about potentially unreliable results, McNabb said.

State Lab Awaits Full Accreditation

Rosecrants said his constituents have questioned why it has taken so long to fully launch the agency’s own quality assurance lab. Per Barrett Brown, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority’s quality assurance laboratory is operational but still awaiting accreditation for certain testing capabilities.

The lab, authorized under Senate Bill 813 in 2023, is currently accredited to test potency in flower, oil and concentrates, and pesticides in flower, but is still seeking accreditation in other categories, according to Oklahoma Watch’s reporting.

The lab is intended to add independent testing capability that regulates licensed testing facilities themselves, reducing the industry’s reliance on third-party data, according to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority.

Gillian Schauer, executive director of the Cannabis Regulators Association, told the study that Oklahoma’s testing model leaves little room for catching problems earlier. “Testing ends up being the only marker of whether or not something is safe,” Schauer said.

Schauer warned that labs and licensees face pressures that can incentivize falsification or pushing products through testing regardless of results, noting a failed test can mean the loss of high quantities of product.

Regulatory Ideas and Pushback

Interim study participants floated more than a dozen potential additional regulations during the hearing. Ideas included aligning Oklahoma’s testing criteria with existing national standards and testing for families of compounds rather than listing every individual harmful pesticide in state law, per Oklahoma Voice’s account.

Rosecrants said further regulation should expand testing labs’ ability to detect pesticides and other hazardous substances through new technology and approved methods. He said the priorities discussed could potentially be pursued through administrative rules rather than new legislation.

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