Nevada’s medical marijuana: one step closer to shelves (maybe)
By Dom DiFurio
@News21
Posted: June 5, 2015
PHOENIX – Nevada’s medical marijuana program requires laboratories to test weed before dispensaries can begin operating. So far, it has taken the state the better half of this year to develop regulations for the labs.
It’s one of the few states requiring testing for marijuana, but developing guidelines has taken longer than anticipated. Frustrated business owners said they hope that changes the governor signed today may bring the state closer to a functioning medical marijuana program that’s been more than a decade in the making.
CannaSafe Labs is one of two laboratories that has permission to operate in North Las Vegas. Company President Matt Haskins said he’s rented a 7,100-square-foot space since August and invested more than $1 million. Lab owners like Haskins are just waiting for the state to finish writing the rules.
Nevada created the Independent Laboratory Advisory Committee to establish those rules. The committee is made up of eight lab owners and scientists who will recommend standards for how marijuana laboratories should test samples. Haskins sits on that committee.
One of the largest obstacles the committee faces: How labs will test medical marijuana for pesticides, which can have harmful effects on humans.
Earlier in the month, members of the committee said they were concerned the state’s proposed regulations – which they deemed too “stringent” – would hurt the profitability of labs and increase the time it took to get marijuana to the people. So, the state delegated another state body to decide which pesticides to test for.
Gov. Brian Sandoval approved the changes to SB 447 Friday, and the move will place the Department of Agriculture in charge of developing rules for pesticide testing.
The new language could indirectly require the department to defy federal pesticide testing laws set up by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said Lynn Hettrick, deputy director of the Nevada Department of Agriculture.
However, Hettrick said the department isn’t going to violate federal law and will most likely recommend testing for a short list of minimally harmful pesticides the federal government doesn’t regulate.
“There are big hurdles for us to clear here in regard to how much of the federal law are we going to impose,” Hettrick said.
The changes will take effect July 1, but it remains to be seen if the medical marijuana industry will get off the ground or if the state will need to make more changes.
The state’s Division of Public and Behavioral Health said in an email that the lab-testing policy is still being finalized, and “as a work in progress, there is nothing definitive to say at this point.”
“I think everyone’s trying to do the right thing out here as far as the laboratories, and there’s a lot of frustration,” Haskins said. “But at the same time, it’s brand new. And we have to all be patient, and we’ll get there.”
Dom DiFurio is a News21 Reynolds Fellow. Follow him on Twitter @domdifurio