Several New Jersey legal adult-use cannabis products failed independent safety tests for mold, yeast, and bacteria, along with their reported THC potency.

A new organization has sprouted up called the Safe Leaf Society which said they purchased cannabis products from dispensaries and then brought samples to certified, independent laboratories for rigorous testing.

*While some anomalies were expected, Safe Leaf called the broad mislabeling of contamination and THC cannabinoid levels shocking.

Seven out of twenty-five pre-rolls failed the test by exceeding the microbial organism limits set by the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC).

The graph featured above indicates that seven pre-rolls had more than 100,000 Yeast and Mold Colony Forming Units (CFU) per gram. Those with more than 100,000 failed the test.

A release by the Safe Leaf Society said that five of those seven products that failed were labeled for sale as having pathogen levels of zero.

They did not specify which licensed lab did the tests.

Safe Leaf Society co-founder and leading cannabis advocate Andrea Raible said they wanted to keep the details of which company pre-rolls failed private for now.

They want to contact the companies directly and keep the names of the growers and sellers of such terrible weed anonymous for now.

Raible said the products came from 17 different licensed cultivators. Samples were collected from more than one dispensary.

Some registered medical patients and adult cannabis consumers rely on those levels to guide their purchases.

In the underground legacy market, the standard of quality weed was low. Nugs of cannabis flower that was green weed without seeds or too many stems, in general, were very good for many consumers.

“We all deserve a clear and fair market,” Raible declared.

“As an asthmatic with yeast and mold allergies, I don’t always need a lab test to tell me something is wrong with my medicine. The reaction can be pretty immediate,” she explained, “I consider myself lucky. Some immunocompromised patients have no warning signs, and the results of consuming contaminated cannabis can be truly devastating.”

“Mislabeled cannabis is equivalent to a pharmacy providing the wrong prescription or a restaurant regularly serving moldy food. Raible argued.

Safe Leaf Society co-founder Michael Boone said that New Jersey’s cannabis industry has made significant strides toward legitimacy. But this erodes consumer trust.

He believes cannabis should be held to high standards like food and medicine.

“We must have rigorous testing that provides science-backed information,” Boone exclaimed. “These conditions are non-negotiable.”

Eight pre-rolls that were tested for THC cannabinoid potency failed to meet the NJCRC’s acceptable labeling variance requirement.

Some cannabis products in New Jersey seem to only have half of the THC content reported on the label.

THC potency is a key data point for dosing and plays an important role in the effects experienced by the consumer. It is popularly known to be the part of weed or cannabinoids that gets you high. But it is only one of the few cannabinoids that people know.

They inflate THC numbers because consumers often just want the strongest weed. Since there is such demand for strong weed, then more is charged often.

In reality, other cannabinoids and terpenes also contribute significantly to a consumer’s high.

Safe Leaf was founded recently to improve safety and transparency in New Jersey’s regulated cannabis products.

“We’re not doing this to create controversy. We want to work with consumers, industry leaders, and regulators to make sure that we prioritize safety and integrity,” they said in a joint statement.

Raible insisted they want to collaborate when interviewed by Heady NJ.

“New Jersey consumers are paying some of the highest prices in the nation for cannabis. We should at least be able to count on it being clean and labeled accurately,” she said.

As more data is collected, they hope to reveal the root causes of ongoing safety issues.

“There is definitely more to come,” Raible explained. “We’re looking to fix the overall problem. We’re not trying to play whack-a-mole with each harvest.”

She said Safe Leaf wants to do more advocacy and data collection going forward.

Raible is a leading home grow and consumer advocate who lives with multiple neurological conditions that are managed by cannabis. Boone is a business executive specializing in compliance and a professor and data academic at Stockton University’s Hemp and Cannabis Business Management program.