Former Marijuana Testing Lab Owners Say Montana Is Ignoring Rules On Testing Products For Potency And Safety – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

“None of these numbers are lining up. None of the labs are adding up. We have no idea where the extra volume is coming from.”

By Darrell Ehrlick, Daily Montanan

One of Montana’s few in-state laboratories that had participated in the rollout of the recreational and medical marijuana programs said that it has closed its doors, largely based on concerns the owners have with scientific accuracy of testing the formerly banned substance.

Stillwater Laboratories owners Ron and Kristine Brost said they’re concerned that a software program the state uses may inadvertently approve large lots of marijuana without complying with the state’s testing standards, leading to a market that has increased the volume of marijuana without a commensurate increase in testing. Furthermore, they told the Daily Montanan the huge increase in sales statewide since the implementation of recreational marijuana should have resulted in an equally large jump in testing, but they said those numbers don’t match.

However, Kristan Barbour, the director of the state’s cannabis program with the Department of Revenue, said that while the initial launch of the state’s recreational program, which happened after it was legalized for medical cardholders, had some bumps as it transitioned from the state’s Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Revenue, that testing is tracking with sales and the department is in the process of hiring more staff to keep tabs on the budding…