Three northeast cannabis industry groups released a report on Wednesday to shine a light on contaminants in unregulated products sold in New York.
These groups had products tested from 20 unlicensed sellers, like Empire Cannabis Club and WeedWorld, two entities that received cease and desist letters from regulators over the summer, and lesser-known unlicensed sellers, too. The results showed that about 40% of the products contained contaminants like E.Coli, lead, and salmonella, the groups said.
(Cannabis Wire requested certificates of analysis from the lab tests and will update this story if the groups provide them.)
A refresher: in March 2021, New York lawmakers passed the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), which created a framework for taxed and regulated cannabis sales for adults aged 21 and older. Regulators have spent much of 2022 building out a regulatory system, and draft regulations for the adult use industry are now open for public comment, as Cannabis Wire recently reported.
Today, while regulators are targeting the end of 2022 for the first legal adult use sales, no adult use cannabis shops have yet been approved to open. But that hasn’t stopped a proliferation of sales from unlicensed brick and mortar stores, delivery services, and food truck style vehicles across New York State, with a particular concentration in New York City. This means that entities aiming to legally enter the adult use industry now l have to compete with unregulated operators who are able to sell cheaper products because they’re untaxed and untested.