Medical marijuana tester and provider argue over costs
A frustrated Delaware medical marijuana provider accused a testing company of charging “grossly higher” fees than those in other states.
The exchange took place Thursday evening in the Medical Marijuana Stakeholder Group, after Daniel Woodall, president, and chemist at the High Tide Lab Co., talked about testing marijuana for medicinal companies in the state.
“I would like to make a comment,” said Michael Wiser, president of the Compassionate Care Research Institute.
Wiser told the group he is concerned about the increased cost of testing. Compassionate Care spends more than $1 million dollars a year on testing, Wiser said.
“To be perfectly frank with you, we’ve operated in five states, and the fees that you’re charging are grossly higher than any other state we’ve operated in,” he said. “Just want to register that we are complaining about it. We think that the amount that you’re charging is exorbitant.”
Woodall responded “That’s bullcrap. That is such garbage.”
Woodall said he didn’t appreciate the insinuation that the testing fees are responsible for increases in prices.
“There’s no way that the testing fee is an excuse,” he said. “You guys have charged the same amount of money forever. It’s the same price; don’t blame that on the lab. I don’t set your prices.
“That’s such garbage, I’m sorry, buddy, but that’s such garbage. Sir, I will consider your statements. But don’t say that high prices are because of the lab.”
Asked how much they made last year, Wiser said he didn’t know, but Woodall estimated that it was around $20 million.
Wiser said that number was inaccurate and the real number is much lower.
Efforts were unsuccessful Friday to reach Wiser for comment.
Woodall said Friday morning he received a call from Kristopher Kiely, the general manager at the Compassionate Care Research Institute apologizing for Wiser’s behavior.
Woodall said that he looked it up afterward and for the 2022 fiscal year, the Compassionate Care Research Institute spent $475,000 on testing with them.
That price, Woodall said, is about in the middle for testing costs paid by the five different centers his company tests for.
Since starting in 2016, Woodall said that his testing costs have stayed the same, 5% of the value of the marijuana being tested.
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