New businesses sprout to support medical marijuana industry


Inside a small, suburban industrial building in Walled Lake, scientists in white lab coats look at marijuana under microscopes, noting every instance of mold or mites before sending the samples to be tested for potency and quality.

Article by Lindsay Vanhulle

For five years, Iron Laboratories LLC has been filling a niche in Michigan’s medical marijuana industry: Testing products for impurities and ensuring that the level of THC, the active chemical in marijuana, matches what is advertised, even though Michigan doesn’t require such testing.

That’s about to change. By December 2017, new licensing regulations will make safety testing mandatory, which is likely to ramp up competition. Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration is expected to hire a vendor to run a statewide marijuana tracking system. And the regulations will add certainty for companies that have been operating in legal gray areas.

“I’m in a good position. I can show the state three years’ worth of test results (to say): ‘I deserve a license,’ ” said Howard Lutz, Iron Laboratories’ CEO.



Comments
comments powered by Disqus

RECENT NEWS & ARTICLES