PHOENIX — How do you know you can trust what you buy?
Normally buying food is regulated by the federal government. If you pick up prescription drugs, the federal government regulates the potency.
What about marijuana, which is still illegal on the federal level?
Testing on a state level
Like other states that have legalized recreational marijuana, Arizona is responsible for the rules and enforcement of the drug.
“Before anything gets sold, dispensaries need to test all of their products,” Jon Udell, Co-State director of Arizona Norml, said.
Each dispensary must send out samples before a product hits the market. Arizona established rules on the collection of samples and the level of toxins allowed.
However, Udell's concern is oversight.
“There is this incentive still to try and get the buds, the samples that will help you financially in terms of clearing the test controls," Udell said.
Under the current rules, cultivators and dispensaries pick the samples themselves—and can send them to a test lab of their choosing.
Last year, a series of Arizona Republic investigations found testing samples did not always match the product in stores.
“There have been some hiccups in lab testing over the first few years,” Ann Torrez, Executive Director of the Arizona Dispensaries Association, said. "I think the testing rules are very adequate as long as people are following them."
"No one has died, no major recalls, no major illnesses, and we don’t want to get it to that, but that shows you there is something right in the system of testing,” Torrez said.
What are the dangers of contaminants in marijuana?
We know some toxins that exist in pesticides and insecticides. However, research on the impact of those toxins when combined with marijuana is limited.
“The information we get about the scale of contaminants is extremely rare,” Maxwell Leung, an ASU professor, and member of the Medical Marijuana Testing Advisory Council, said.
Leung and his students are testing the impact of contaminants combined with marijuana. He hopes more research can better inform policy.
What's next?
Currently, there is legislation that would change how testing works in Arizona. One bill, SB 1709, would require a certified lab to randomly take marijuana products from dispensaries and see if the products match labels.
It also would limit batch sizes.
However, the bill likely faces an uphill climb in order to pass.