A Massachusetts cannabis testing laboratory that lost its license after allegedly failing to report contaminated product is going to the courts to recover its permit, according to records obtained by MJBizDaily.
Assured Testing Laboratory, based in Tyngsboro, is claiming Massachusetts’ Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) violated “its basic rights of due process” when it suspended the lab’s license, effective July 4, according to a complaint the lab is filing in Suffolk County Superior Court.
In a June 30 order, the CCC alleged that the laboratory had an abnormally low fail rate for contaminants such as yeast and mold.
The order – the first instance of Massachusetts regulators cracking down on an allegedly lax testing laboratory – gave Assured Testing 21 days to request a hearing.
According to Assured Testing’s claim, the CCC’s action “is unlawful” and will force the lab “out of business … all over what is essentially a data-reporting disagreement.”
Cannabis testing regulations ‘unclear,’ lab owner says
Dimitrios Pelekoudas, the lab’s CEO, told the Boston Herald that “the CCC’s regulations were so unclear on this specific testing issue, that it reissued regulations that became effective as of April 1 of this year.
“At all times Assured Testing Laboratory complied with all active regulations and orders.”
He also claimed the lab, which tested 25% of the cannabis in the state between April 2024 and April 2025, “did nothing wrong here, posed no threat to the public, and ensured that no contaminated products reached the market.”
In more than 17,000 tests reported to the state, Assured Testing reported only 10 fails for yeast and mold for a 0.05% fail rate, or 90 times below the state average of 4.5%, according to the CCC.
A later state investigation found that Assured Testing had actually recorded 544 tests of cannabis in excess of the state’s 10,000 colony forming units-per-gram limit – but did not report those failures to the state, as required by law.
The action follows years of complaints about THC potency inflation and labs giving clients favorable results in order to secure business.
Separate lawsuit questions testing technology
But Assured Testing might have another explanation for any questionable results.
The lab is one of 26 plaintiffs that sued a laboratory technology company in January, claiming the chromatography machines and other lab equipment they purchased were faulty and “consistently resulted in failed testing,” court records show.
In Assured Testing’s case, the lab “could not have discovered the falsity” of the manufacturer’s claims until “2024 at the earliest,” when litigation in other states revealed similar problems.
The January lawsuit is pending, according to Suffolk County Superior Court records.
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