April 21, 2021- Frederick, MD – A2LA has granted ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation to Americans for Safe Access (ASA), marking A2LA’s first-ever certificate of accreditation issued to a product certification body in the cannabis industry. ASA is an organization focused on ensuring safe, legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. To that end, ASA has developed the “Patient Focused Certification” scheme to identify reliable, high-quality medical cannabis, businesses, products, and services.
A2LA and ASA share a unified goal and are committed to helping the cannabis industry develop an environment of accountability, quality, and safety. A2LA has partnered with ASA to provide cannabis testing laboratories with joint assessments to ISO/IEC 17025 and ASA’s Patient Focused Certification (PFC) scheme requirements, making it possible for labs to achieve both accreditation and PFC certification attainable through a dual assessment. A2LA is the only accreditation body that offers accreditation to cannabis-specific program requirements. A2LA has been an industry leader in the accreditation of cannabis testing laboratories for many years and welcomes this opportunity to support the cannabis industry in a new and equally important way.
“This is very exciting news for Americans for Safe Access and an important achievement for the medical cannabis industry,” said Jonathan Fuhrman, Program Manager at A2LA. “ISO/IEC 17065 and product certification can play a decisive role in the evolution of cannabis as medicine. With its high standards for competence and impartiality, adopting ISO/IEC 17065 represents a major win for healthcare providers and patients.”
“ASA is thrilled to be the first cannabis compliance organization to achieve this milestone through A2LA,” said Heather Despres, the director of ASA’s Patient Focused Certification program. “The PFC program was developed by ASA in an effort to continue our commitment to protect patients, many of whom are medically fragile, and consumers who may be seeking medicine outside of conventional medicinal channels. There is no other process that can demonstrate that continued commitment more than achieving ISO 17065 accreditation.”
A2LA expects ASA to be the first of many product certifiers to become accredited by A2LA, as the need for product certification will only continue to grow as the cannabis market develops. For more information about A2LA’s ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation program, visit A2LA.org.
About ASA
ASA was founded in 2002 as a vehicle for patients to advocate for the acceptance of cannabis as medicine. ASA is the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. ASA works to overcome political, social and legal barriers by creating policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and researchers.