Cannabis Labs Inflate Potency, Ignore Contaminants, Lawsuit Says

A cluster of cannabis testing labs artificially inflate the potency of marijuana products and ignore contaminants to lure cultivators and squash competitors, a Massachusetts lawsuit alleges.

“The Massachusetts cannabis industry is rife with a practice commonly known as ‘lab shopping,’ where cultivators determine which labs provide the most favorable results (regardless of their empirical validity) and engage those labs for compliance testing contracts and business relationships,” according to the complaint filed Thursday in Massachusetts Superior Court, Suffolk County against Analytics Labs and other testing facilities.

This practice “results in significant harm to consumers” who are presented with falsely-labeled products that ...