Press Releases

For Immediate Release: August 1st, 2018

Contact: Heather Despres | [email protected]

California Laboratory Achieves National Certification

Los Angeles, CA – Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is pleased to announce that Consumer Safety Analytics (AKA CannaSafe) Laboratory of Van Nuys, California has been certified for laboratory analysis of medical cannabis products under ASA’s Patient Focused Certification (PFC) program. PFC is a project of ASA, and the only nonprofit, third-party certification program for the medical cannabis industry based on quality standards issued by the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) and the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP).

The AHP Cannabis Monograph and the AHPA cannabis guidelines offer the most comprehensive regulatory and product safety guidance as well as Best Business Practices for the production of cannabis and cannabis products. Since the release of AHPA’s guidelines in 2012 and the Cannabis Monograph in 2013, components of these guidance documents have been included in several states’ regulations. Recently, ASA announced a joint collaboration with the American Association of Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) to expand the PFC program by offering a new accreditation program based on the requirements of both ISO/IEC 17025 and the PFC program.

“This tremendous achievement demonstrates CannaSafe’s commitment to cannabis safety for patients and consumers”, said Jahan Marcu, Ph.D., PFC Program Director. “Cannasafe upholds the high standards of testing and plays a pivotal role in ensuring consumer safety and confidence in the state’s burgeoning cannabis market and has become a model for other cannabis laboratories in California,” added Dr. Marcu.

CannaSafe is the first laboratory to be awarded certification in southern California to engage in the PFC program. California’s overall product safety rating was a “B+” in ASA’s 2018 State of the States Report and CannaSafe made great strides towards improving the state’s rating by implementing the best practices outlined under PFC certification and their commitment to producing high quality cannabis products.

“Going through the process of PFC certification has brought numerous benefits to our business and our clients as well as their patients and consumers,” said Antonio Fraizer, Director of Operations at CannaSafe. “The PFC program has helped us attain the highest levels of standards and consistency in testing cannabis products, which offered additional measures and considerations. We will also be offering a discount on testing services to other cannabis businesses enrolled in the PFC program. Further, the program has also saved us potentially thousands of dollars by ensuring we were prepared for regulatory inspections and the staff is properly trained,” added Fraizer.

CannaSafe joins a growing list of PFC certified cannabis businesses since the program was officially launched in 2015, including Harvest of Tempe (AZ), Sonoma Lab Works (CA), Berkeley Patients Group (CA), Humboldt’s finest (CA), The Werc Shop (WA), Kannavis (MD) BASA Collective (CA) and many others.

To achieve PFC certification laboratories must pass two assessments each cycle. Assessment involve a facility inspection and document review for criteria such as method validation reports, employee training records, and other requirements that are applicable by law. PFC is an international training, education, and certification program that has formed partnerships with accreditation bodies, and standards groups such as the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation, ASTM, and the American Herbal Products Association.

For further information: Patient Focused Certification