2026 Full Disclosure Award Nominee: MCR Labs

MCR Labs uses public data to expose weaknesses in cannabis testing systems and identify policies associated with stronger oversight. States built medical cannabis regulatory systems under federal prohibition, without access to a national product safety infrastructure or coordinated federal oversight. The result is a patchwork of testing rules, laboratory standards, and oversight systems that vary widely by jurisdiction.

In weaker systems, inflated potency results, inconsistent contamination reporting, and “lab shopping” can put inaccurately labeled or contaminated products into patients’ hands while penalizing laboratories that follow rigorous scientific standards. When businesses can seek out labs that report higher potency or fewer failures, laboratories that refuse to manipulate results can lose market share. Over time, that dynamic undermines confidence in the testing system itself and creates a marketplace where doing the right thing can become a competitive disadvantage.

To examine those discrepancies, MCR Labs began comparing state systems using data regulators already collect. Through public records requests, the laboratory sought cannabis testing data from every state with a regulated program and, in collaboration with the University of Mississippi’s National Center for Cannabis Research and Education, began making that information publicly accessible.

The project has now made data from 22 states available, creating one of the largest public collections of product-level cannabis testing information in the country. MCR Labs has used those records to compare state testing outcomes, identify policies associated with stronger laboratory oversight, and examine patterns linked to laboratories that were later shut down for manipulating results.

The analysis has also challenged assumptions about testing policy itself. MCR Labs reports that some requirements add substantial cost without showing a corresponding safety benefit, while competition between laboratories appears to play a major role in rising reported cannabis potency. Those findings matter because testing rules can shape what products reach shelves, what patients and consumers believe they are purchasing, and which laboratories succeed in the marketplace.

Open data changes that equation. When regulators, researchers, businesses, and the public can examine testing outcomes across jurisdictions, weaknesses become easier to identify, state approaches can be compared, and claims about program performance can be tested against evidence.

“MCR is honored to be recognized for our work advancing transparency in cannabis testing. Open data helps regulators and researchers identify problems, learn from what works, and build safer, more effective cannabis programs.” — Yasha Kahn

MCR Labs’ nomination for the Full Disclosure Award recognizes its commitment to making cannabis testing systems' performance visible and verifiable. Its work moves transparency beyond the individual Certificate of Analysis by providing data that can help determine whether the rules, laboratories, and oversight mechanisms behind those results are actually protecting patients and producing trustworthy information.

Website: MCR Labs