Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 3/17/2025
Safe Leaf - New Jersey
An independent science watchdog for cannabis safety
Contact: Andrea Raible or Michael Boone safeleafsociety(at)gmail.com
Website: www.safeleafsociety.com
Lab testing reveals safety concerns in NJ’s legal cannabis supply
Trenton - Regulated cannabis products for sale in New Jersey failed recent independent safety tests for molds and pathogens. Cannabinoid levels for THC printed on the product labels were also routinely inflated.
Those are the surprising results from a new secret shopper program from The Safe Leaf Society.
Safe Leaf purchases cannabis products from dispensaries and then brings samples to certified, independent laboratories for rigorous testing. Results are released to the public. As more data is collected we hope to reveal the root causes of ongoing safety issues.
The initial anonymized run of the program was conducted in recent weeks. The first Safe Leaf secret shopping trips focused on pre-rolls. These are individually packaged single cannabis cigarettes.
Seven out of twenty-five pre-rolls (28%) failed by exceeding the microbial limits set by New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission. Failures were spread across five separate cultivation licensees.
Five of those seven products that failed were labeled for sale as having pathogen levels of zero. Our independent test showed levels over 100,000 CFU/g raising red flags about potential labeling fraud.
All eight pre-rolls tested for cannabinoid potency (THC) failed to meet NJCRC’s acceptable labeling variance requirements. Six different NJCRC licensees accounted for the failed tests.
Detailed data sheets are included here. Our in-depth report on the first round of testing is available here.
Safe Leaf was founded in 2025 by Andrea Raible and Michael Boone to improve safety and transparency in New Jersey’s regulated cannabis products.
Raible is an advocate who lives with multiple neurological conditions that are managed by cannabis. Boone is a professor and data academic at Stockton University’s Hemp and Cannabis Business Management program.
“We're not doing this to create controversy. We want to work with consumers, industry leaders, and regulators to make sure that we prioritize safety and integrity,” said Raible and Boone in a joint statement.
Raible went further, “Mislabeled cannabis is equivalent to a pharmacy providing the wrong prescription or a restaurant regularly serving moldy food."
Boone said that NJ’s cannabis industry has made significant strides towards legitimacy.
“But, if we don't hold cannabis to the same standards as food and medicine we will erode consumer trust. We must have rigorous testing that provides science backed information. These conditions are non-negotiable,” said Boone.
While some anomalies were expected, the broad mis-labeling of contamination and cannabinoid levels was shocking. Registered medical patients and adult cannabis consumers have become accustomed to relying on those levels to guide their purchases.
“As an asthmatic with yeast and mold allergies, I don't always need a lab test to tell me something is wrong with my medicine- the reaction can be pretty immediate,” said Raible, “I consider myself lucky, some immunocompromised patients have no warning signs and the results of consuming contaminated cannabis can be truly devastating”
THC potency is a key data point for dosing and plays an important role in the effects experienced by the consumer. Some producers in NJ appear to be delivering only about half of the THC content reported on the label.
“New Jersey consumers are paying some of the highest prices in the nation for cannabis, we should at least be able to count on it being clean and labeled accurately, " said Safe Leaf Society co-founder Andrea Raible.
Contact: Andrea Raible or Michael Boone safeleafsociety(at)gmail.com
