Hashing It Out with PureVita Labs
Why a local physician was inspired to leave his medical practice behind to found a cannabis testing lab.
Photography courtesy of PureVita Labs.
It’s not every day a physician leaves their medical practice behind to venture into the world of cannabis, but Dr. Jason Iannuccilli, cofounder of PureVita Labs in West Warwick, might say it was his calling.
“What I’m doing has certainly raised a few eyebrows,” he says.
Photography courtesy of PureVita Labs.
Born and raised in Rhode Island, Iannuccilli’s longtime interest in medicine and the sciences led him to complete Brown University’s Program in Liberal Medical Education before pursuing post-graduate training at UCLA in 2010. This was when the legalization of cannabis was ramping up in California, and Iannuccilli’s neighbor was a major advocate after suffering a debilitating fall from a ladder.
“He talked my ear off about how he didn’t think he’d be able to walk straight again but now he’s training for a marathon,” Iannuccilli says.
Iannuccilli eventually returned to Rhode Island to begin his career in vascular interventional radiology — work which involved using ablation to shrink or destroy tumors. Naturally, he received many patient questions about medical cannabis: Is it safe? Can it help with nausea? Should they give it a try?
“I didn’t know what to tell them; I wanted to educate myself first,” he says. “I also thought back to my neighbor and said, ‘This guy had such an amazing response, maybe there are true medicinal benefits.’”
So, Iannuccilli started researching. By 2015, he was having more and more conversations with patients about their medical marijuana use. He discovered that when patients walked into these dispensaries, they had no direction. There was no medical professional to help them choose the right type of product, or to tell them how much to take.
He wanted to make that experience better for them — a little more meaningful and a little more based in science.
Many of the issues stemmed from the analytical testing, he discovered. Reports suggested that many labs and growers weren’t putting in the time and effort needed to create accurate product labels — putting too much emphasis on the THC content and creative strain names.
And there was a safety element, too. The cannabis plant is susceptible to soaking up toxins like pesticides and metals from the environment, which could be harmful to someone — like a cancer patient — who is immunocompromised.
Photography courtesy of PureVita Labs.
“I said, ‘Let’s make sure these products are safe and accurately labeled for patients, so they can make their own decisions with some level of confidence,’” Iannuccilli says.
He teamed up with another local physician, Dr. Jonathan Martin, as well as a chemist with ten years of experience in the cannabis field, Stuart Procter, to open PureVita Labs in July 2020. The cannabis testing facility works with local dispensaries and independent cultivators to develop products that are useful, safe, transparent and consistent in potency.
“Because that’s what consumers want: They want a consistent, predictable experience,” he says. “Right now, that’s where the industry is having a tough time. Without a good lab, it’s very tough for established businesses to build that dependability in the eyes of the consumer.”
In the end, though, it always comes back to the consumer.
“From the beginning, we asked how could we best help the industry here in Rhode Island and set the legal market apart from the illicit market,” Iannuccilli says. “We want it to be taken seriously, and we want people who enjoy this product and find benefit from it to be taken seriously. We’re trying to break stereotypes.” purevitalabs.com
