More than two dozen companies tried to capitalize on a 2019 Arizona law mandating marijuana product testing for THC potency and contaminations of mold or pesticides. It didn't work out for most of them.
The 2019 law took effect in late 2020, sparking a rush of entrepreneurs and scientists to enter the business, some from established companies from other states. Between 2022 and 2024, at least 27 different firms were certified by the state Department of Health Services, which oversees the testing program. The winnowing began quickly.
As of early last year, 18 pot-testing labs were certified, online records show. By mid-June of this year, only 11 remained. The reasons are plentiful. But according to former lab owners and operators, a big factor leading to the closures were the pressures placed on labs by the dispensaries to cheat in ways that could affect public health, wearing down operators both in nerves and finances.
Failed labs also struggled with more traditional business problems, such as missing revenue goals and quarreling with partners. Many of the difficulties in running the testing labs, former insiders said, stemmed from the problems that make the system unreliable for consumers, such as dispensaries "shopping" for labs that give them the results they want and complicit labs willing to fudge their test results.
Read more at AZ Central