The State of Pennsylvania requires all medical marijuana and medical marijuana products produced and sold in the state to be tested to ascertain that:
Section 29(C) of Title 28, Chapter 1171 of the Pennsylvania Code mandates that prescribed tests by the Pennsylvania Department of Health are performed by approved laboratories. The prescribed tests by the Pennsylvania Department of Health include tests of samples from:
The Pennsylvania Department of Health provides a guide for quality testing and sampling by approved laboratories. The guide requires harvest batches, harvest lots, and production batches of medical marijuana products in Pennsylvania to do a chemical profile and contaminant analysis of the marijuana in their possession. Other tests for chemical profiles of marijuana and marijuana products include tests conducted on:
Some of the significant contaminants in medical marijuana harvest and final medical marijuana products that require a chemical profile are:
The chemical profile of acceptable chemicals used by the Pennsylvania Pesticide Control Act will also be tested to ascertain that their presence in the marijuana is within acceptable limits. The Department of Health may also require samples for certain tests to be taken at different stages of the production of marijuana or marijuana products. Below are some tests and the points of sample collection for the tests required by the Department of Health.
Yes, the State of Pennsylvania licenses independent medical marijuana testing laboratories for the testing of marijuana and marijuana products. There is no state agency testing marijuana. As of April 2025, five testing laboratories have been approved and accredited to test marijuana and marijuana products in the state. The names, addresses, and contact persons in each of the approved medical marijuana testing laboratories are as follows:
ACT Laboratories of Pennsylvania LLC
190 River Street,
Clearfield, PA 16830
or
109 Brinton Avenue
Trafford, PA 15085
Official contact person: Jeff Nemeth
Telephone: (517) 278-9333
Keystone State Testing LLC
4949 Queen Avenue,
Harrisburg, PA 17019
Official contact person: Dr. Kelly Greenland
Telephone: (717) 585-0393
Steep Hill Pennsylvania
6360 Flank Drive, Suite 700,
Harrisburg, PA 17112
Official contact person: Dr. Andrew Rosenstein
Telephone: (814) 419-6347
US Cannalytics, LLC
3535 High Point Boulevard. Suite 400
Bethlehem, PA 18017
Official contact person: Timothy Schnupp
Telephone: (610) 798-6040
Coral Reef Labs
2632 North State Route 72,
Jonestown, PA 17038
Official contact person: Andrew Blasco
Telephone: (800) 287-3729
Every medical marijuana testing facility in the State of Pennsylvania is required to obtain an ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation. Chapter 1171.23 (b)(4) of Title 28 of the Pennsylvania Code mandates prospective medical marijuana testing laboratories to submit copies of their most recent ISO/17025 certificates of accreditation with their applications. The ISO/IEC 17025 certificate is a document issued by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) National Accreditation Board as evidence of compliance with required laboratory operation standards. It affirms that the testing facility is competent to carry out tests, calibrations, sampling, etc. It also affirms that the laboratory has a quality management system and that their test results are reliable.
To obtain an ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, a medical marijuana testing facility will be required to:
A prospective medical marijuana testing laboratory in Pennsylvania must submit a completed Application to Become an Approved Laboratory for Marijuana Testing Form designed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Chapter 1171.23 of Title 28, the Pennsylvania code, states some specific details about the testing laboratory that must be written in the application form or included in the application package. These specific details include:
When a testing facility submits an application to the Pennsylvania Department of Health for approval, they automatically consent to the department sending anyone to visit the facility. This is to investigate the physical location of the laboratory and its authorized persons to ascertain that the applicant meets the requirements for approval. The application form should be printed and completed, and other supporting documents as stated above should be saved as PDF files on either a USB drive, an external hard drive, CD-ROM, or DVD. They are to be named “Laboratory Approval Application.pdf” or in a similar naming format for the series of documents. Applications must be properly signed and dated. The signature of the laboratory owner must also be scanned and provided electronically in a pdf file. Applications are to be mailed to:
PA Department of Health
Office of Medical Marijuana
Laboratory Approval
Room 628, Health and Welfare Building
625 Forster Street Harrisburg, PA 17120
The Department of Health will assess the application and issue an approval if they find the applicant professionally and financially capable of conducting reliable tests according to their standards.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health does not publicize the fee requirements to set up a medical marijuana testing facility. However, application fees of other medical marijuana organizations are public. The Department may communicate a cost to the applicant after the application for the license is filed.
All medical marijuana organizations in Pennsylvania will be required to pay a fee of $250 either by a certified check or through money order addressed in favor of the Pennsylvania Department of Health whenever:
The approvals granted to testing laboratories by the Pennsylvania Department of Health are valid only for the laboratory locations specified in the approvals. The approvals are also only valid for 2 years before they need to be renewed.
The only regulations available in Pennsylvania for cannabis testing facilities are the conditions given by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Pennsylvania Code. There are no local regulations in Pennsylvania for medical marijuana testing laboratories. The laboratories can perform tests for medical marijuana growers/processors in the state if they have met all the conditions stated by the code and the department.
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