Oklahoma's medical marijuana regulatory agency is working to open a testing laboratory in February in Oklahoma City. Renovations for the lab for Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, or OMMA, began the week of Nov. 11 and are expected to last 90 days.
Lee Rhoades, the authority's chief science officer, said the Legislature authorized the agency to operate its own lab in 2023 by passing Senate Bill 813.
The Legislature appropriated a total of $4.9 million for the current fiscal year for the laboratory, according to a spokesperson from the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. This includes a one-time $3.5 million appropriation for start-up costs and another recurring $1.4 million that will pay for operating and personnel expenses.
"Several years ago, we identified the need for a lab to help support product safety in the state of Oklahoma," Rhoades said. "We were experiencing many of the same issues as several other states were having. Many of the states realized that we need our independent testing to double check what's going on out there in the industry and how the public is being affected by the quality of testing that may or may not be present for all products."
Read more at The Oklahoman