Marlborough cannabis testing lab shutters, latest victim to industry struggles
Photo | Courtesy of Regenerative
Plants grow at Regenerative, an outdoor cannabis farm in Uxbridge.
Indo Laboratories, a cannabis testing lab based in Marlborough, has closed its doors, as the state’s cannabis industry continues to struggle with chronic debt and falling marijuana prices.
Chuck Kreiman, former lab director at Indo, disclosed the lab’s closure in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday. He cited the lab’s clients not paying their bills and structural issues within the state’s industry as the main reason behind the closure.
“From my high-level perspective the business failed because it couldn't pay its bills,” Kreiman’s post reads. “It couldn't pay its bills because the clients couldn't or wouldn't pay their own bills, and the owners/investors were tired of subsidizing the clientele. The legal cannabis industry here in Mass. has some pretty severe structural problems right now. The whole thing just seems like a house of cards waiting to collapse, with everybody owing everybody else money and nobody working to make good on their debts.”
Calls made to the lab’s listed phone number and Indo CEO Nicholas Masso by WBJ were not returned.
Indo Laboratories, which first received permission from the state to commence operations in December 2020, is one of many cannabis companies in Massachusetts that has been dragged into court over accusations of unpaid bills.
Ivy Mae LLC, an entity sharing an address and management with Waltham-based commercial contractor Vantage Builders Team, filed a lawsuit against Indo in November after the company allegedly failed to pay back a loan, according to Middlesex County Superior Court records. The lawsuit resulted in a default judgment of over $84,000 being made against Indo in May.
Testing laboratories are licensed by the state’s Cannabis Control Commission and are utilized by cultivators and product manufacturers to allow for product potency to be measured and to ensure products are not contaminated. The state has 16 licensed testing laboratories counting Indo, but not all of these labs are operational. CDX Laboratories in Salem closed earlier in 2024.
Businesses have the ability to choose which testing lab they would like to test their products, leading to accusations some companies specifically seek out particular labs willing to find ways to inflate product potency or manufacture results, allowing contaminated products to reach shelves.
In September 2023, Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio released an audit, which found more than $10 million in marijuana products whose testing approvals had expired were sold to consumers.
Multiple cannabis businesses in Central Massachusetts have faced legal issues over unpaid bills, including Dudley-based Greatest Hits, now-closed Clinton dispensary Society Cannabis Co., and Revolutionary Clinics, which has a cultivation in Fitchburg and a dispensary in Leominster.
Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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