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And now for another frustrating piece of California news...
Pasadena police raided a prominent medical marijuana lab in Southern California, The Werc Shop, Monday evening.
According to reports, Pasadena Police raided The Werc Shop in Pasadena at 10 p.m., Monday night, detaining 28 people and ultimately arresting 2 — Jeffrey Raber, 39, of Whittier and Mark Piesner, 43, of Calabasas on suspicion in manufacturing a controlled substance.
The Werc Shop is a leading cannabis analysis laboratory in Southern California, and performs potency and pathogen testing on southland medical cannabis for dispensaries, collectives and patients.
Raber has a Ph.D. in chemistry from USC and The Werc Shop was founded in 2010 “despite the inherent risk personally and professionally,” Raber states online. “Tremendous community support quickly resulted in The Werc Shop being recognized as a leading cannabis laboratory.”
According to reports, an anonymous tip about cannabis odor led local police to two Werc Shop sites in Pasadena. Police said they seized “200 pint-sized bottles” of hash oil, 500 pounds of marijuana and found a “manufacturing factory for hash oil or honey oil.”
“Hash oil” is one name for a variety of extracts of cannabis made using a chemical solvent, most often butane or carbon dioxide. None of the police photos corroborate charges of an extraction lab. The photos are consistent with an analytical laboratory. Raber did not answer calls for comment Tuesday and has not released a statement.
The legality of California’s analytical cannabis labs — which test medical marijuana for potency and pathogens — is subject to dispute. They are not specifically legalized under Proposition 215 or SB 420, and operators could be subjected to federal or state charges for handling marijuana, depending on the jurisdiction. But several California cities mandate cannabis be tested at such labs before being sold to patients.
The legality of extraction labs hinges on a California Appellate Court ruling which criminalizes cannabis extraction using butane, but allows for extraction using inflammable solvents like water.
Pasadena police raided a prominent medical marijuana lab in Southern California, The Werc Shop, Monday evening.
According to reports, Pasadena Police raided The Werc Shop in Pasadena at 10 p.m., Monday night, detaining 28 people and ultimately arresting 2 — Jeffrey Raber, 39, of Whittier and Mark Piesner, 43, of Calabasas on suspicion in manufacturing a controlled substance.
The Werc Shop is a leading cannabis analysis laboratory in Southern California, and performs potency and pathogen testing on southland medical cannabis for dispensaries, collectives and patients.
Raber has a Ph.D. in chemistry from USC and The Werc Shop was founded in 2010 “despite the inherent risk personally and professionally,” Raber states online. “Tremendous community support quickly resulted in The Werc Shop being recognized as a leading cannabis laboratory.”
According to reports, an anonymous tip about cannabis odor led local police to two Werc Shop sites in Pasadena. Police said they seized “200 pint-sized bottles” of hash oil, 500 pounds of marijuana and found a “manufacturing factory for hash oil or honey oil.”
“Hash oil” is one name for a variety of extracts of cannabis made using a chemical solvent, most often butane or carbon dioxide. None of the police photos corroborate charges of an extraction lab. The photos are consistent with an analytical laboratory. Raber did not answer calls for comment Tuesday and has not released a statement.
The legality of California’s analytical cannabis labs — which test medical marijuana for potency and pathogens — is subject to dispute. They are not specifically legalized under Proposition 215 or SB 420, and operators could be subjected to federal or state charges for handling marijuana, depending on the jurisdiction. But several California cities mandate cannabis be tested at such labs before being sold to patients.
The legality of extraction labs hinges on a California Appellate Court ruling which criminalizes cannabis extraction using butane, but allows for extraction using inflammable solvents like water.
