2021 In Numbers: Mass. Cannabis Industry Testing Statistics

Following another year of unpredictability, change, and challenges for the Massachusetts cannabis industry, MCR Labs is releasing some interesting data that may provide some insight on the industry’s development this past year.

Looking a bit closer at testing data can help the industry explore the last year’s challenges and changes from a different perspective and uncover trends that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.

Here are MCR Labs’ most notable stats from Jan. 1, 2021 to Jan. 2, 2022:

• The Lab saw a 19% increase in samples submitted for testing, in comparison to 2020’s 38% increase.
• While flower sample submissions decreased by 8%, concentrate and vape submissions grew by 22%. The decrease in flower samples can be reasonably attributed to a regulatory change in batch size enacted in March.
• Solventless extract sample submission increased by 85%, and can most likely be attributed to the rising popularity of Hash Rosin. Hash Rosin submissions increased by 700%.

Samples submitted to MCR in 2021 had a 92.3% pass rate for safety screens, up from 91.2% in 2020.

For concentrate and vape samples, the pass rate decreased from 93.5% in 2020 to 91.8% in 2021, which can be attributed mostly to an increase in residual solvent failures.

The statistics provided here account for product samples submitted for compliance testing by cultivators and product manufacturers from the medical and adult-use programs, as well as home growers, patients, researchers, or curious consumers.