Growing sales of marijuana were unregulated in Oklahoma till the Unity Bill was passed recently, which made testing mandatory at all licensed laboratories working with marijuana.
Ever since the ban on the sale of marijuana was lifted, there has been a spurt in dispensaries selling marijuana so much that a road trip will turn up a medical marijuana dispensary on the left and right very close to each other.
Marijuana is used for medicinal purposes. It needs to be tested for metals and pesticides.
Growth in the number of legalized marijuana dispensaries shows that people are moving away from buying it from street peddlers. The minimum expectation that such people will have from marijuana dispensaries is that the marijuana sold will be of a higher quality and be safer for consumption compared to that available on the street.
The marijuana sold in dispensaries is costlier than that sold on the street. It is because it is subjected to testing and also because these dispensaries have to follow all federal and state laws related to the legalized sale of marijuana. They also have to buy a license for selling marijuana. This license and other approvals will need to be renewed after a certain period. The testing equipment needs to be maintained and calibrated. The Laboratories need to be fully supplied with equipment and chemicals necessary for testing. That more and more people are flocking to such dispensaries despite the high cost shows that they are willing to pay more for a safer product.
William Webb, an owner of Quality Cannabis Laboratories, said,
Out of approximately 55 dispensaries I went to, only one of them had the correct testing, the full panel.
Some dispensaries are taking shortcuts with the testing of marijuana sold by them. Thus, customers end up paying more for marijuana, which is not qualitatively much different than that sold in the street. It exposes them to the same risks that buying marijuana from the street does.
The Unity Bill requires the dispensaries to not only test marijuana but also store results of the tests for two years and allow the Oklahoma Department of Health access to them. Strict implementation of the Unity Bill can ensure that consumers will get full medical benefits of marijuana with full safety.
