LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — A recent bill in the Michigan House, sponsored by Rep. Mike Mueller (R-Linden), would allow the state’s newly-constructed cannabis testing facility to begin operating and possessing marijuana.
Construction started on the state-run cannabis lab after the project received funding in fiscal year 2024 and completed planning work over the past two years. This update came from Derek Sova, a policy and legislative assistant with the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency during a House committee on Thursday.
However, since cannabis is currently federally illegal, Sova said a law is needed to explicitly grant the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency, the group that would run the lab, to possess the substance.
“We are just waiting on this legislation to get up and running,” Sova said in the House Rules committee.
“Lab shopping.”
Currently, marijuana growers are required to go to one of Michigan’s 17 privately-owned and operated testing labs, but Sova said this competitive market incentivises testing labs to skew results in favor of their clients.
“One of the strongest arguments for marijuana to be legal in 2018 was that it would be tested and it would be safe,” Sova said. “Unfortunately, that has not been the case. The reason for that has been this issue of lab shopping.”
Sova said the new state-run testing lab will use its lab facilities to “audit” the private labs and ensure their results are reliable.
“We are not looking to take over the responsibility of the testing ourselves,” Sova continued. “Our goal is to make sure that the labs testing themselves, that the labs have to do with the testing are getting the correct test results.”
Keeping consumers safe.
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Additionally, Sova said the lab will remove the need to outsource testing to private companies in the case of investigations, saving time and improving reliability.
“The reference lab will both restore integrity to the testing environment, protecting consumers safety, and it will greatly improve investigative capabilities,” Sova said.