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U.S. NEWS Thursday 28 June 2018

California pot shops offer discounts as new standards near

By BRIAN MELLEY signed to weed out pesti- ples 45 days. There are also
Associated Press cides and contaminants requirements about what
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bar- such as solvents and mold, technicians must wear,
gain basement bud is on though they were largely and lab employees have
the menu in California, unconcerned about the to pick up test samples di-
but you need to act fast safety of the cannabis rectly from suppliers.
to cash in on the cheap they’ve used for years. “The new regulations have
weed. “I smoked pot for 40 years us twisting,” Martin said.
Regulations being phased that wasn’t tested, from “We feel like we’re trying to
in six months after the state dealers on the street, and do yoga on two mats.”
broadly legalized mari- it smelled like anything There are concerns that the
juana require that pot sold from gasoline to perfume,” 28 testing facilities licensed
after Saturday meet strict said Catherine Lanzarotta, by the state will not be
quality standards, so retail- who stocked up on “Blue enough, though labs said
ers unloading untested in- Dream.” ‘’So I’ve never even with a spike in recent
ventory are offering blow- had that concern.” months, they have been In this June 21, 2018, photo, laboratory manager Emily Savage
out prices. Testing will also examine able to handle capacity. demonstrates how she uses an instrument to photograph
Deep discounts on every- concentrations and po- The fear is there will be a cannabis samples at CW Analytical Laboratories, in Oakland,
thing from edibles to joints tency of the ingredient that repeat of what Oregon ex- Calif.
reflect the last days of the gives users a buzz. perienced two years ago Associated Press
heady first phase of le- The change in rules was as distributors held out for dragged on for weeks, said surge in business she’s seen
gal recreational pot. They part of the state’s decision a rules reprieve that never Lori Glauser, chief operat- indicates a similar scenario
could be followed by emp- to allow the industry in its le- materialized and held up ing officer of EVIO Labs, in California that will lead
ty shelves as many stores gal infancy to get a running the supply chain. which has locations in Cali- to a temporary shortage of
scramble to restock with start at the beginning of The resulting bottleneck fornia, Oregon, Colorado, marijuana in dispensaries
properly tested and pack- the year. Shops were given at labs meant testing that Florida and Massachusetts. once they can no longer
aged products. six months to burn through should have taken days Glauser said the recent sell untested product.q
“You can smell it. There’s a supplies of grass grown and
certain desperation from cookies and other products
stores that bought too made without strict testing
much and they have to requirements.
dump it,” said John Atari, Any marijuana harvested
CEO of Source Cannabis this year or for sale July
Farms, a licensed cultiva- 1 must meet quality and
tor in Los Angeles. “There’s safety standards or be de-
going to be a big shortage stroyed.
of clean product come Before the legalization of
July 1.”At Firehaus, a shop recreational marijuana,
along an LA freeway, a fire testing of pot sold for medi-
sale of sorts unfolded this cal purposes was largely
month with a 50 percent done for marketing. Grow-
off “summer blowout” sale ers could promote the po-
advertised on a popular tency of their product or
marijuana app and texted the fact that it was free of
and emailed to regular contaminants.
customers. Robert Martin, co-founder
Patrons leaving the brick and CEO of CW Analyti-
storefront on a recent day cal Laboratories in Oak-
were happy to double their land, said the voluminous
value, but were unaware new rules are draconian,
of the reason behind the with a mandate to test for
bargains. A half-dozen heavy metals, which he
of those interviewed said said is unnecessary, and
they welcomed testing de- one to keep tested sam-