Testing lab says it's suing cannabis commission over shutdown order

The founder and head of the testing lab that was ordered to shut down by the Cannabis Control Commission last week is prepared to sue, arguing that his company did nothing wrong and casting blame towards a specific CCC rule he says was "so unclear" it had to be rewritten this spring.

The CCC said last week that its investigators determined that Tyngsborough-based Assured Testing Laboratories was not accurately reporting the results of tests for yeast and mold in cannabis to the commission or to Metrc, the seed-to-sale tracking system CCC licensees must use. Regulators alleged the lab's operation "undermines the Commission's ability to ensure compliance, and posed an immediate or serious threat to public health, safety, or welfare."

Assured CEO and founder Dimitrios Pelekoudas blasted the commission in a statement released through a lawyer Thursday and said his company complied with all active CCC regulations and orders.

"There is a fundamental principle in this state and in this country that before you lose everything at the hands of the government, you have a right to appear in some forum to defend yourself. Assured Testing Laboratory, a locally run business with 33 employees, did nothing wrong here, posed no threat to the public, and ensured that no contaminated products reached the market," Pelekoudas said. "This is a simple disagreement about how data was being reported. In fact, 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."

Michael Ross, the former Boston city councilor and attorney at Prince Lobel Tye, provided Pelekoudas' statement and also shared a copy of a lawsuit against the CCC. That suit could not be immediately located on the Superior Court docket Monday as having been filed.

Regulators at the CCC have zeroed in on issues in the testing space over the last several months, at the same time that a bill to entirely restructure the CCC has picked up momentum on Beacon Hill following complaints about the agency's regulatory work and more.

The CCC said it held a November public listening session to hear concerns from independent testing labs and created a new investigatory task force to probe issues. The CCC said it has been in regular contact with the 11 independent testing labs that operate in Massachusetts since then and is now also requiring testing labs to upload a digital certificate of analysis after every product test to document the methods used to ensure products are in compliance with state regulations.