Marijuana-testing company Green Lab Solutions plans to open in January after receiving a license from the city last week.

The company in Bodo Industrial Park will join 14 certified testing labs trying to meet the demand from hundreds of grow facilities for testing results, said Green Lab Solutions owner Steve Ottersberg. These labs test for potency, mold and bacteria.

“From what we hear, there is a backlog,” he said.

Ottersberg and Luke Mason, co-owner of Aurum Labs, another Durango-based lab, were concerned this summer that the city would not be able to allow for medical marijuana testing in time to meet state requirements.

While recreational marijuana testing requirements have been in place for a while, the state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division allowed the medical marijuana growers and manufacturers a grace period.

The medical marijuana testing rule was set to take effect July 1, but it was pushed until November. Now, the medical marijuana growers and manufacturers have until April 1 to come into compliance, Ottersberg said.

In the meantime, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is requiring testing to make sure all the labs’, including Green Lab Solutions’, results are accurate.

“The CDPHE audit really pushes the labs toward doing better science,” he said.

Green Lab Solutions is also working on CDPHE certification, a process that started in January. The lab already employs six people, mainly Fort Lewis College graduates, and expects to expand.

The lab has some clients lined up already and aims to do testing for grows in Pueblo, Ottersberg’s hometown, and where a large percentage of grows in the state are based.

“I want to make sure we capture most of Pueblo’s market share,” Ottersberg said.

mshinn@durangoherald.com