Our mission
The American Council of Independent Laboratories (ACIL) California Cannabis Working Group (CA-CWG) is dedicated to increasing awareness and outreach on behalf of independent cannabis testing laboratories in the Golden State. Our primary purpose is the promotion of of meaningful legislative and regulatory cannabis testing policies. The CA-CWG is affiliated with the ACIL, an 83-year old trade association representing independent commercial scientific laboratories with over 1,000 facilities across the U.S. engaged in testing, product certification, consulting, and research and development to enhance public health and safety. ACIL members are accredited, periodically inspected laboratories that have high-level quality management systems in place to ensure that they generate quality data and have demonstrated a long history of operating in a professional manner.
As we work to build this coalition, we hope that you will join us. Together in partnership, the CA-CWG and ACIL are fighting to strengthen California's cannabis and hemp testing industry by promoting rigorous testing procedures that ensure consumer safety and the highest quality products for the marketplace.
The ACIL California Cannabis Working Group strives to maintain the highest industry and ethical standards for business in the state of California. In line with these expectations, we agree to the following as a requirement for participation with the ACIL California Cannabis Working Group:
§ No business involvement with illicit market testing
§ Compliance with all regulations set forth by the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), including ISO certification for all BCC testing
§ Ensure to the best of our ability to produce accurate cannabinoid testing results and prohibit potency inflation as a business procurement practice
§ Hold scientific ethics over profits
CA-CWG standards
Announcing the ACIL CA-CWG
CONTACT INFORMATION:
American Council of Independent Laboratories
Michael Oscar
Email: moscar@acil.org
RELEASE DATE:
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
ACIL ANNOUNCES CALIFORNIA CANNABIS WORKING GROUP
Coalition to increase awarness for best practices in cannabis and hemp regulation in California
The American Council of Independent Laboratories (ACIL), a trade association representing independent, commercial testing laboratories, is expanding its footprint in the State of California with the creation of the California Cannabis Working Group (CA-CWG). The mission of the group will be to increase awarness for public health, the adoption of standards and best practices by testing laboratories, and responsible regulation within the Golden State.
Background:
The ACIL has over 1,000 members across the U.S. engaged in testing, accreditation, product certification, consulting, and research and development to enhance public health and safety. The ACIL is a strong proponent of consumer safety and advocates for standardized testing practices across many industries including food, environmental, pharmaceutical, and medical device testing. The ACIL regularly engages with Federal regulatory bodies on behalf of its members, including the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Congress.
The ACIL is actively working with federal lawmakers to draft new cannabis and hemp-related legislation addressing the specific needs of the industry. It’s Cannabis Working Group (CWG) is currently being led by executive members of two highly recognized and respected cannabis testing laboratories in California: CannaSafe and Anresco Laboratories. On April 20, 2020, the ACIL’s CWG sent a letter to congressional leadership requesting inclusion of cannabis laboratories in the Small Business Administration Programs' stimulus relief packages. Three days later Reps. Blumenauer (D-OR) and Perlmutter (D-CO) introduced the Emergency Cannabis Small Business Health and Safety Act in the House of Representatives. This legislation would grant legal cannabis businesses access to disaster relief loans and other programs available during the COVID-19 crisis, which responds directly to the CWG letter’s requests.
The ACIL CWG most recently sent a letter to Lori Ajax, Chief of the California Bureau of Cannabis Control, to address shortcomings in the regulation of cannabis testing laboratories and standardize the quality of results across all laboratories performing compliance testing. However, there is still much work to be done in California and it was the opinion of ACIL Board of Directors that a more concentrated effort was required to enact change on behalf of its California members – hence the creation of the CA-CWG.
Need:
In California, the climate appears to be trending away from a focus on quality and safety and towards receiving favorable results. Lab shopping, where companies choose a specific lab that will provide them favorable results, has been an ongoing issue in California. But economic pressures resulting from a thriving illicit market, excessive taxes, and now an economic crisis, have forced cultivators and processors to focus even more so on trying to maximize their reported cannabinoid content and minimize the likelihood of batch failures. This is not the first time this behavior has occurred. The integrity of mature cannabis markets such as Nevada, Oregon, and Washington has suffered greatly as a result of potency inflation, lab shopping, and lack of lab standardization.
There is an urgency in highlighting the importance of testing standards and capable cannabis laboratories now more than ever. In the fall of 2019, 209 illnesses and 4 deaths were attributed to vaping in California, none of which were a result of consuming products from the regulated cannabis industry. Analytical laboratories were crucial in determining the scope and origin of the problem, as state and federal agencies lacked the resources or capability to perform such testing.
It is also important to address the lack of testing regulations and parity of hemp CBD products. The only two regulations surrounding hemp are that CBD products should not contain more than 0.3% THC, enforced by the Hemp Farming Act in 2018, and that CBD cannot be present in food products and dietary supplements, enforced by the FDA. Studies led by CannaSafe and other testing laboratories have found that many hemp CBD products on the market contain potentially harmful contaminants and mislabeled cannabinoid content. The separation of regulations for hemp and cannabis is led by a misunderstanding of the cannabis plant itself. Hemp is cannabis, a specialized variety of Cannabis Sativa, cultivated to contain a high CBD and low THC potency for industrial purposes. Both hemp and cannabis products should be regulated in the same manner with the same quality standards to protect consumers.