The long process of getting a medical marijuana industry up and running in Maryland has shown that the weed sector has a network of players. There have to be growers to produce the plants, processors to package it and dispensaries that hand it out and, of course, bureaucrats to make sure everything is regulated.

In California, a Bay Area company learned that work in the lab is also necessary. Steep Hill is set to open an office in Maryland. The lab, which will be the company’s first on the East Coast, is slated to be located in Greenbelt, a spokesperson said.

The company tests cannabis for potency and safety. The company also performs genetics testing on cannabis. To open the Maryland office, Steep Hill licensed the cannabis-testing technology to a group of specialists including Dr. Andrew Rosenstein, the gastroenterology director at University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center. He will serve as CEO.

“This marks a new era in cannabis safety,” Steep Hill President and CEO Jmîchaeĺe Keller said in a statement. “The Maryland team consists of doctors, laboratory specialists and health care experts including board-certified pathologists, gastroenterologists, and highly experienced health care business professionals who have years of experience in patient care and testing human tissue to detect disease.”

Steep Hill’s tests can be performed on weed for recreational or medical use, but only one will be legal in the Free State.

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