The president of a local law enforcement group is sounding alarms about the reliability of cannabis products in Massachusetts. Matt Gutwill, President of the New England Narcotic Officers Enforcement Association, argues that THC percentages in cannabis products are being inflated. 

“What they’re doing is they’re ripping off the consumer,” Gutwill said. 

THC percentages below what is on label

Gutwill and his organization say they have tested over 100 products from multiple dispensaries over the past two years and found that a significant number had THC percentages below what was stated on the products’ labels. 

“It’s saying it’s 12.8% and .1% CBD. But when we purchased this, it said that it was 34.65% THC level,” said Gutwill, showing how he tested a joint using a NIRLAB screening device. 

Gutwill argues that THC inflation is a symptom of a larger problem, a lack of oversight by state regulators of cannabis testing labs.

Massachusetts regulations require cannabis products to be tested by licensed labs before they can be sold at dispensaries. Rumors of “lab-shopping” or trying out different labs to get the most favorable result, have swirled in the industry. Gutwill says it is possible because the Cannabis Control Commission, the state’s regulatory body which oversees cannabis commercialization, does not conduct its own random testing. 

“They are doing nothing on the enforcement end,” Gutwill said. 

Yeast, mold found in cannabis samples

Over the summer, the CCC took its most significant enforcement action to date, suspending Assured Testing Laboratories in Tyngsboro for failing to report samples of cannabis that showed the presence of yeast and mold. 

The CCC found that Assured failed to report the presence of yeast and mold in over 7,000 samples. In over 500 lab samples, the CCC alleged that Assured failed to report the presence of yeast and mold that exceeded the state’s legal threshold for sale. “Noncompliance poses an immediate and serious threat to the public health, safety, or welfare of the Commonwealth,” the suspension notice stated.

Assured sued the CCC, arguing that the company did not receive due process. The lab opened a month and a half later after paying a $300,000 fine. Assured has not been accused by the CCC of inflating THC levels.

Dr. Zoe Weiss, the Clinical Director of Microbiology at Tufts Medical Center, told WBZ that the presence of mold can cause severe issues for anyone who is immunocompromised. 

“It can enter the lungs, and it can cause pneumonias that can lead to even areas of like a ball of fungus in the lungs that can invade the blood vessels in the lungs,” Weiss said. 

WBZ sat down with the Chair of the Cannabis Control Commission, Shannon O’Brien, and the body’s head of Public Safety, Commissioner Kimberly Roy to discuss the state of cannabis testing. Roy told WBZ-TV that the CCC prevented the products tested by Assured from being distributed further but did not recall products that were already on dispensary shelves. 

“We don’t have that luxury of a federal agency guiding us. Every state is on our own. And so, is there more to do? Yes, there is. But, those products, once identified, they were frozen in place and consumers and patients couldn’t purchase them,” Roy said. 

Roy and O’Brien did not refute that THC inflation could be happening in the industry. 

“What you’re referring to is more consumer and patient fraud. So, you pay more for higher potency THC, so folks, patients, consumers are paying additional,” Roy said, 

Roy said she is championing the creation of an independent, state-run laboratory to check testing accuracy. She said budgetary restraints prevent the state from creating one right now. She said she has also created a testing task force and is working to create a tip line. 

Secret shopping program

Roy and O’Brien also said they will work to enact a regular secret shopping program, allowing the CCC to regularly and randomly test products being sold by retailers. 

“The secret shopper program is something that we raised in this very room, over three years ago,” O’Brien said. “We were actually told by senior staff that we had a secret shopper program which we don’t.” 

O’Brien said the CCC has been using secret shopper to follow up on tips. 

While the industry has faced headwinds, it has also surpassed $8 billion in gross sales this year, garnering the state roughly $250 million in tax revenue every year. 

“We are regulators protecting public health and safety, but this is also an economic driver in this state,” she said. 

WBZ reached out to Assured for a comment but did not receive a response. 

Since reopening, Assured’s website states, “While we have had our disagreements with the CCC about the suspension, and some of the reasons behind it, our priority now is to move on […] we are working with a third-party auditor to make sure that compliance is our number one priority.”