The primary hashish testing laboratory in Massachusetts to be suspended for alleged testing fraud is now the primary to try to get better its repute – and its enterprise – following scandal.
Tyngsboro-based Assured Testing Laboratories, which reopened Sept. 15 following a settlement with state regulators that averted litigation however included a fantastic, examined as a lot as 25% of the hashish within the $1.6 billion market earlier than its July 1 suspension.
And although it is perhaps a while earlier than the lab can get better that enterprise – or belief with customers and its former prospects – the additional scrutiny imposed by the state Hashish Management Fee (CCC) as a part of the settlement would possibly work within the lab’s favor, interim CEO Tom Moore informed MJBizDaily.
“It’s an odd place to be in, clearly,” Moore stated in a current cellphone interview. “We have been the most important lab within the state.”
Although it’s solely been a number of weeks, Moore claims the corporate is “being fairly properly obtained” by former prospects, together with some who’ve already resumed testing with Assured.
“We’re right here to make it proper,” stated Moore, who famous that Assured should now meet further stringent requirements with a view to keep in enterprise.
“I can say with all confidence that if anyone is giving outcomes in keeping with what the CCC needs, it’s us.”
“The truth is, we would be the standard-bearer.”
First lab suspended for alleged misbehavior returns
After years of complaints that labs are inflating THC efficiency and signing off on contaminated hashish to please prospects, state regulators have throughout the nation have cracked down, punishing allegedly unscrupulous operators within the business testing laboratory house.
However after suspensions and different punitive actions in Arizona, California, New York and different states, the scenario in Massachusetts would be the first occasion of a lab trying to return after alleged misbehavior.
And the CCC’s allegations have been severe.
In accordance with the CCC’s suspension order, Assured recorded a fail price for yeast and mould 90 instances decrease than the statewide common of 4.5% between April 2024 and April 2025.
The lab failed solely 10 samples out of 17,565 regardless of Massachusetts having a number of the strictest requirements for contaminants within the nation, the CCC alleged.
Different alleged violations, together with not reporting failed samples to regulators and reporting that samples handed testing with out finishing the exams amounted to an “intentional effort to hide these failing outcomes and solely report the favorable outcomes on behalf of its shoppers,” the CCC alleged.
Assured sued to get better its license however dropped litigation forward of its stipulated settlement with the CCC, by which it didn’t admit wrongdoing however agreed to pay a $300,000 fantastic.
As well as, the lab agreed to:
- Droop the lab’s CEO and minority proprietor Dimitrios Pelekoudas for one yr.
- Contract with an unbiased auditor that may overview the lab’s uncooked testing information, which in flip should be reported biweekly to the state.
- Rent a top quality management supervisor.
Additional regulator scrutiny, denial of dry labbing
A part of the stipulated settlement means Assured misplaced management of the narrative, stated Moore, who nonetheless denied the lab engaged in any shady practices because the CCC had alleged.
“Whenever you settle one thing like this, you don’t get to inform your facet of the story,” he stated.
“We’re saying, ‘Look, we get it. You didn’t just like the issues we’re doing. We could disagree with that, however let’s settle this and open again up.’”
Particularly, Moore denied Assured engaged in “dry labbing” because the CCC alleged.
“I can let you know one hundred pc of our samples have been examined,” he stated. “We have now all of the documentation for that.”
He additionally rejected the concept Assured posed a menace to well being and security because the CCC claimed.
“If we had, they might have shut us down in 2024,” he stated.
He chalked up the lab’s issues to “previous practices” in place earlier than a Dec. 2024 CCC administrative order that, amongst different necessities, directed labs to replace their customary working procedures (SOPs).
“That clarified lots of what occurred,” he stated. “That clarified how they anticipated us to do issues.”
For instance, Moore stated, retesting a failed pattern – to substantiate the preliminary failure was correct – was “allowed again then” previous to the directive.
However now that the lab has strict SOPs accredited by the state – and outcomes reported on to the state – the scenario shall be totally different, he stated.
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Returned Mass. hashish czar vows lab crackdown
Few would possibly disagree with Moore on that entrance – amongst them state regulators.
Additional scrutiny of the state’s hashish testing laboratories is one in every of just lately returned CCC Chair Shannon O’Brien’s high priorities, she stated throughout a public assembly Wednesday.
O’Brien returned to her put up final month after a controversial elimination and subsequent authorized battle. In her absence, some observers level out, is when the lab drawback worsened.
Going ahead, state regulators will wield stronger oversight over labs, O’Brien stated. And the state would require standardization of lab testing strategies, she stated.
However being the primary to undergo scrutiny and punishment – and in a aggressive discipline – could show difficult for Assured, stated Jeff Rawson, the president of Massachusetts-based Institute of Hashish Science.
Rawson has publicly criticized Pelekoudas, Assured’s suspended CEO, for showing “unrepentant in interviews.”
“I imagine they’ve an uphill path to recovering their enterprise,” Rawson informed MJBizDaily.
“With Assured working underneath a stipulated settlement that exposes them to enhanced scrutiny, how will they persuade shoppers to return?”
Chris Roberts might be reached at chris.roberts@mjbizdaily.com.
