COLUMBIA — Missouri officials will spend more than $6 million to establish a new state-run marijuana testing facility in Jefferson City.

The goal is to ensure the safety of approximately $1 billion worth of marijuana products. The lab will test the products for heavy metals, mold and other contaminants.

Missouri already has 10 officially licensed testing facilities. However, the tests performed at those labs are often funded by the companies that sell the products, creating a conflict of interest.

“There are incentives and pressures on these independent labs to provide results that their customers want,” said Amy Moore, director of the Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation. “I’m not saying that none of our labs are doing that, but that’s one of the issues that we need to be sure about from a public health perspective.”

Experts said the new state-run lab would test products that independent labs have already tested to verify results from independent labs — a process informed by courts in other states.

“In other states, there have been many cases of private labs reporting things that are not true,” said Dan Viets, president of the National Organization for Marijuana Law Reform. “In some cases, I tell the customers what they want to hear.”

The facility will operate within the Missouri Public Health Laboratory in Jefferson City and is expected to open in the fall of 2025.