It's going to be interesting to see how it develops over time and just see what happens to those legal challenges." "So, all of that together has made it really hard to plan out everything for that lab, especially when you don't know what the government is going to stand in the way of. "The recreational side has been up in the air, and she's basically trying to delay the implementation of it," he says. RELATED: South Dakota to Postpone Implementation of Voter-Approved Medical Cannabis Measure Kristi Noem has deemed it an unconstitutional amendment. Nieuwenhuis says starting the lab was difficult because even though South Dakota passed Amendment A and Initiated Measure 26 for medical cannabis, state Gov. The next closest lab is nearly 215 miles away in Fargo, N.D., followed closely by a lab 225 miles away in St.
"So, we'll probably also be doing samples from Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota-basically any state that has its own hemp plan, we would be able to follow that."Īs of now, Cannabis ChemLab is the only lab with DEA registration within at least a 100-mile radius, according to the USDA’s lab tracker. "We have our USDA certification and the DEA is in the process of finishing up their certification for us, so by the spring, we will have that certification as well, and we will be able to take samples from pretty much anywhere to do testing," he says. The USDA has delayed the requirement that all hemp be tested at a DEA-registered lab until December 2022 however, when that requirement kicks in, Nieuwenhuis anticipates being ready. The lab is working on receiving approval from the U.S. "Whatever they end up using for CBD products is what ChemLab will also be testing," he says. An Indian reservation near Flandreau, for example, is setting up a production lab and it will produce CBD products, he said. Nieuwenhuis says he’s already heard interest brewing in the state around hemp production. This year will be the state’s first year of production. South Dakota was one of the last states to legalize hemp production when lawmakers agreed to allow it last March. "Once that gets done, then we will start moving into products." "We will be starting with testing hemp this spring and testing throughout the summer until harvest," he tells Hemp Grower. It is currently operating out of East Prairie Labs, which Nieuwenhuis also owns, but he eventually plans to separate the two. © Courtesy of Nieuwenhuis East Prairie Labs