Alaska cannabis testing requirements

Required tests

• Potency
• Residual solvents
• Microbials
• Moisture
• Foreign matter
• Homogeneity

ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation

Not required. 3 AAC 306 sets no ISO/IEC 17025 (or other accreditation) requirement. The Marijuana Control Board licenses labs after a competence review by the board or its contractor, which may include inspection and proficiency testing, under SOP and good-laboratory-practice rules (3 AAC 306.620-.640) and AMCO's 2019 Cannabis Testing Laboratory Compliance Document.

Notes

• Rules in force: 3 AAC 306 as published on akleg.gov. The last testing-related change was on Apr 19, 2025 (test-result labeling in 306.475 plus a 'filth' definition); AMCO's compiled copy is dated May 29, 2025.
• Every harvest batch package (3 AAC 306.455) and every production lot (306.550) must be sampled and held until a licensed testing facility completes the 306.645 tests. Untested flower may go to CO2 or solvent extraction if the extract then passes all tests.
• Potency (306.645(b)(1)): THC, THCA, CBD, CBDA and CBN on flower, concentrates and products. Flower and concentrate results are reported on a dry-weight basis, with total THC and total CBD.
• Homogeneity: each serving in a multi-serving edible must be within 20% of the target. An edible fails if a 10-serving package has more than 120 mg THC or if THC is not homogeneous.
• Microbials (306.645(b)(2)): STEC, Salmonella, and Aspergillus fumigatus, flavus and niger, each under 1 CFU/g, on marijuana, retail marijuana products, and water- and food-based concentrates. There is no total yeast and mold limit.
• Residual solvents (306.645(b)(3)): solvent-based concentrates only. Limits: butanes under 800 ppm, heptanes under 500, hexane under 10, benzene, toluene and total xylenes each under 1 ppm. The heading also says 'metals', but no metals limits are listed.
• Moisture: labs must report the % moisture of plant samples so potency can be stated on a dry-weight basis (Compliance Document, adopted by 3 AAC 306.635(a)(3)). There is no moisture pass/fail limit.
• Foreign matter: under 306.660(a), failing a visual foreign matter inspection counts as failing a required test, and the batch must be destroyed. There is no numeric standard.
• Not required: pesticides, heavy metals, mycotoxins, water activity, terpenes, vitamin E acetate. Wholesale labels must say which contaminants were not tested (molds, mildew and filth; herbicides, pesticides and fungicides; harmful chemicals) (306.475(f)-(g), 306.570(d)-(e)). The board or director may order random or supplemental testing (306.465, 306.665).
• Labs report every required result into the state tracking system (Metrc) within 24 hours, and report failures to the director within 72 hours (306.670). The DEC Environmental Health Laboratory works with AMCO on lab oversight and sits on the 2026 Laboratory Testing Working Group.
• Medical: patient registry run by the Department of Health under AS 17.37 and 7 AAC 34. The adult-use program (AS 17.38) is regulated by the Marijuana Control Board, with AMCO as its staff.
• In flux: a proposal to set edible potency limits as total THC (3 AAC 306.560) is open for comment until October 20, 2026. Pesticide, heavy-metal and mycotoxin testing has been discussed by the board's Laboratory Testing Working Group since 2025 but not adopted.