New cannabis and hemp analytical testing lab to open in Rhode Island

The founders said PureVita Labs was born “out of frustration” after caring for patients with “debilitating, sometimes incurable diseases”

A marijuana sample is set aside for evaluation at a cannabis testing laboratory.Chris Carlson

WEST WARWICK, R.I. — Rhode Island has a new cannabis and hemp testing and analytics laboratory.

On Thursday, PureVita Labs, a 6,800 square-foot facility in West Warwick that is looking to be the “premier” lab for hemp testing in New England, announced that it had received its license from the state health department to sample and test marijuana for potency and contaminants.

Founders Dr. Jason Iannuccilli, Dr. Jonathan Martin, and cannabis chemist Dr. Stuart Proctor said they are looking to ensure that commercially available marijuana products are safe and accurately labeled for potency as a preliminary step in the company’s mission to build the credibility of the “legal” industry for both patients and consumers.

Iannuccilli and Martin said the company was born “out of frustration” after caring for patients with “debilitating, sometimes incurable diseases” and have been asking to use medical cannabis. They said at the time, there was already enough evidence to support the theory that the endocannabinoid system was somehow involved in many of the diseases that they were treating, and wanted to further understand what might be helpful, detrimental, therapeutic, and dangerous to their patients.

They said they are hoping that PureVita Labs will lead the industry toward the next phase: crafting accurately labeled and consistently manufactured product lines.

“High quality analytical laboratories are imperative to assure consumers of the accuracy of product labels, and they are the only thing that stands to prevent potentially-harmful contaminated products from reaching the public,” said Iannuccilli, who attended Brown University’s Medical School and worked in vascular interventional radiology at Rhode Island Hospital.

He said the lab’s services could help Rhode Island’s medical marijuana program achieve “regional excellence” to serve as an example of how an industry should function on a national scale.

Martin said the lab will work with cultivators and dispensaries who “truly care about the quality” and reliable data of their products for what he calls the “modern consumer.”

“[We are] committed to provide fast and reliable service to a growing industry while working in tandem with regulatory bodies to avoid short-comings and pitfalls that have plagued other states,” said Martin, who had helped form Ocean State HealthCare in 2013, which served urgent and primary care patients. Over four years, he was in charge of acquiring and consolidating existing practices and created a $22 million company.