Is Arizona’s New Medical Marijuana Testing Program About to Cause Shortages?

In a nondescript office park in Scottsdale, George Griffeth is getting ready.

Seven-hundred-pound marble tables for high-precision scales, stainless-steel lab equipment, and a multi-thousand-dollar dishwasher are scattered about, set to be part of one of Arizona’s first state-approved medical marijuana testing facilities.

Griffeth has been running a lab for two years out of another, smaller, office in the complex. But as November 1 approaches, and with it the requirement that all cannabis sold in the state be tested by private laboratories, the attorney-turned-lab-operator is bringing on new employees and tripling the size of his facilities.

He and two other Arizona lab operators told Phoenix New Times they are seeing an influx of interested customers as the deadline grows near, and are staffing up to meet the demand.

“I’m kind of bracing for a little bit of mayhem,” said Jessica Crozier, operations and logistics manager at C4 Laboratories in north Scottsdale, of the pending deadline.

The new testing requirement, mandated in a law signed by Governor Doug Ducey last year, offers undeniable benefits for medical marijuana users in a state that has long lagged behind the rest of the country in offering standards to protect patients from pesticides or other health threats. But representatives of dispensaries and labs expect some disruption in the cannabis market that could mean shortages and price hikes come November. [Read More @ Phoenix New Times]