Notice of Issuance of a Medical Cannabis Testing Laboratory License and that the District of Columbia’s Testing Requirements are Now in Effect
The Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) hereby gives notice of the issuance of a license to the District of Columbia’s first medical cannabis testing laboratory. On Friday, August 16, 2024, ABCA issued a medical cannabis testing laboratory license to ClearSight Labs putting the medical cannabis program’s testing requirements into effect.
Specifically, Title 22-C of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations requires ABCA, upon the issuance of a medical cannabis testing laboratory license, to provide notice in the D.C. Register that a testing laboratory has become operational and that the District of Columbia’s testing requirement is now in effect.
As a result of the medical cannabis testing laboratory now being licensed, cultivation centers and manufacturers are now required to have medical cannabis and medical cannabis products tested by the licensed testing laboratory and in compliance with the District’s testing requirements prior to their transfer for sale to a licensed manufacturer, retailer, or internet retailer.
D.C. Code § 7-1671.05(b)(11A)(A) also permits registered medical cannabis patients to have a licensed medical cannabis testing laboratory test samples of medical cannabis products that the registered patient purchased from a District-licensed retailer or internet retailer.
With regard to unlicensed cannabis enforcement as a result of a testing laboratory becoming licensed, D.C. Code § 7-1671.08(g)(2)(B) now allows the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board (Board) to summarily close and order the padlocking of an unlicensed establishment that distributes or attempts to distribute cannabis or a cannabis product not tested by a medical cannabis testing laboratory licensed in the District of Columbia. An unlicensed establishment that is summarily closed by the Board is also subject to having all of its cannabis and cannabis products found at the premises seized by the District.
