California regulators suspend cannabis lab’s business license for questionable test results

California marijuana testing facility BelCosta Labs in Long Beach lost its business permit for allegedly inflating THC potency results for clients and other infractions, MJBizDaily reported Thursday, citing an April 10 letter from state regulators to the lab which said its permit was suspended “effective immediately.”

The California Department of Cannabis Control also accused the lab of clearing marijuana products for sale that had failed contamination tests and were a potential threat to consumers.

A spokesman for the lab, however, told MJBizDaily that the company believed it “was doing everything right” and obeying all state cannabis testing regulations.

“We also don’t believe that we were anything close to a public safety or health concern,” BelCosta Vice President Nate Winokur told MJBizDaily.

On Thursday, the DCC’s license database listed the lab’s permit as “suspended.” The license is set to expire April 30.

It’s also not clear from the DCC letter if BelCosta has any immediate remedy to restart operations. CEO Myron Ronay indicated the lab may wind up suing the state if its permit is not restored.

“If we cannot come to an agreement that salvages the business we have built over the last 8+ years we will be forced to resort to the court system,” Ronay wrote in an email to MJBizDaily.

BelCosta executives also took to YouTube to publicly refute the DCC charges in the suspension letter and proclaimed that any issues were innocent mistakes, not nefarious rulebreaking. Winokur also suggested to MJBizDaily that his company may have been “singled out” by regulators for some reason.