ABOVE: An employee at California-based testing company CannaSafe preps a cannabis sample for testing. © CANNASAFE
When voters in Massachusetts approved a 2012 ballot measure to legalize the sale and use of medical marijuana, it came as a relief for many patients: they now had legal access to a drug known to relieve chronic pain and muscle spasticity associat-ed with a range of conditions, including HIV and multiple sclerosis. But the new law worried Christopher Hudalla, then a chemist at Waters Corporation, a Massachusetts-based company that manufactures analytical laboratory instruments. Like other states, Massachusetts had legalized cannabis without mandating that the herb, or products derived from it, be tested for safety before being sold, which struck Hudalla as odd.
Why would marijuana, especially as it’s being considered medical—why would that not be tested?
“Anything we put on or in our body is tested, whether it’s cosmetics, or lotions, or bread, ...
