Triverity Analytical is gone from the state’s licensed-establishment list, and its LLC has been administratively dissolved. With roughly 20,000 patients depending on one remaining lab, the state has not publicly explained what replaced its former two-lab testing safeguard.
By Jason Karimi, WeedPress
[Update, Oct. 29, 2026: This article has been updated with the South Dakota Department of Health’s emailed responses to WeedPress’s questions, including the date the department says Triverity Analytical’s certificate closed.]
South Dakota requires medical cannabis products intended for retail sale to undergo laboratory testing.¹ The state’s records now list one establishment licensed to perform that work: Cannabis Chem Lab, a privately owned lab in Flandreau.²
A year ago there were two. In August 2025, the Department of Health told the Legislature’s Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee that it had certified two testing establishments.³ The second was Triverity Analytical of Rapid City. Its chief executive testified to the committee in November 2025, and the department inspected the lab on December 3, 2025.⁴ When the department updated its establishments list on May 29, 2026, Triverity was not on it.⁵ In August 2026, the department’s presentation to the same committee counted one testing establishment.⁶
No public explanation for Triverity’s departure appears in the records WeedPress reviewed. WeedPress found no press release, enforcement notice, revocation or closure announcement from the department. The program’s news page says there are “no current news items or updates at this time.”⁷ Secretary of State records show that Triverity Analytical LLC was administratively dissolved on February 15, 2026, after it did not file its annual report.⁸ That record shows a missed filing. It does not show that the lab closed, and it does not explain why the lab left the department’s list. Asked when Triverity’s registration ended and why, and whether the department had taken any action, the department gave a one-sentence answer. “This certificate closed April 9, 2026,” wrote Tia Kafka, the department’s marketing and outreach director, in an emailed response to WeedPress on Oct. 29.¹³⁰ She did not say why the certificate closed or whether the department took any action. The certificate’s closure date came about seven weeks after the LLC’s administrative dissolution; no record WeedPress reviewed connects the two.
The change also leaves a question about the state’s backup. In November 2025, the department told lawmakers that its own Public Health Laboratory had stopped confirmation testing in 2024, because a second private lab meant the two could check each other’s results. The state now lists one private lab. Asked whether the Public Health Laboratory had resumed confirmation testing or whether another independent check had replaced it, Kafka wrote: “The Department may utilize the Public Health Laboratory if confirmation testing is warranted.”¹³⁰ She did not say whether the laboratory has performed any confirmation testing since April 9.
The timeline
October 11, 2023. Triverity Analytical LLC files its initial paperwork with the Secretary of State as a South Dakota member-managed limited liability company. Its principal office is 5632 Fargo Lane #109, Rapid City, and its registered agent is Registered Agents Inc. of Watertown.⁹ Elevate Rapid City later reported that the business “opened its doors in October 2023.”¹⁰
March 2024. The LLC files Articles of Amendment on March 14, 2024. WeedPress has not read that filing and does not know what it changed.¹¹ Five days later, on March 19, Triverity held a ribbon-cutting at the Fargo Lane lab.¹² KELOLAND News reported that night that Rapid City was Triverity’s third location, that its other labs were in Colorado and Northern Ireland, and that it expected to begin testing at the end of the month.¹³ Wendi Young, its chief executive, told KBHB the lab expected to handle about half of the state’s testing, “around 90 samples per month.”¹⁴ Young later told lawmakers the lab had held its establishment license “since March of 2024.”¹⁵
November 1, 2024. In the first Triverity inspection report the department posted, one item was marked out of compliance: recording storage under ARSD 44:90:04:09.¹⁶
December 23, 2024. The LLC files its 2024 annual report. The manager and beneficial-owner fields are blank, and Wendi Young signs as “Authorized Person.”¹⁷
July 2024 to June 2025 (fiscal year 2025). The department’s 2025 annual report, which now carries the medical cannabis program’s yearly figures, counts two registered testing establishments, along with 66 dispensaries, 17 manufacturers and 33 cultivators. It reports two on-site inspections of testing facilities during the year, out of 112 routine inspections.¹⁸
August 19, 2025. The department tells the oversight committee it has certified two testing establishments.¹⁹ The committee’s final report for the year says there were “2 independent testing facilities.”²⁰
November 4, 2025. Young and Jared Nieuwenhuis, president of Cannabis Chem Lab Inc., give a joint presentation to the committee on testing.²¹ The committee’s report describes the two companies as “the only licensed cannabis testing labs in the state.”²²
December 1, 2025. According to a later Secretary of State notice, the LLC’s annual report is delinquent as of this date.²³
December 3, 2025. The department inspects Triverity. One item is marked out of compliance: inventory-tracking-system training, under ARSD 44:90:04:16, with the note “Training Certificates on site?” Every testing-facility item, including “Required Accreditation and Registration — Drug Enforcement Agency 44:90:06:01,” is marked in compliance.²⁴
December 12, 2025. Secretary of State Monae L. Johnson signs a notice of delinquency and administrative dissolution. It says the annual report has been delinquent since December 1 and gives the company until February 14, 2026 to cure.²⁵
December 14, 2025 to March 5, 2026. Internet Archive captures of triverityanalytical.com still show an active lab site. It lists a phone number, “Triverity Analytical License No. 24ESTC2145,” and a leadership page.²⁶,²⁷
February 15, 2026. The LLC is administratively dissolved. No 2025 annual report appears in its filing history.²⁸
April 9, 2026. Triverity’s certificate closes, according to the department, which did not say why.¹³⁰
May 29, 2026. The department updates its establishments list. Cannabis Chem Lab is the only testing establishment on it.²⁹ WeedPress found no archived copy of the list between December 2025 and that date, so it cannot say when in that window Triverity came off.
August 17 and 27, 2026. The department’s committee presentation counts one testing establishment, and the August 27 version of the list again shows only Cannabis Chem Lab.³⁰,³¹
October 25, 2026. triverityanalytical.com displays a Wix “ConnectYourDomain” error page instead of the lab’s site. The department’s testing-inspection page still links both Triverity reports.³² The Colorado affiliate’s website is live. It describes an “ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited testing lab,” lists laboratories in Loveland, Colorado and the United Kingdom, and does not mention South Dakota or post any notice about the Rapid City lab.³³,³⁴
The state lab stepped back when the second lab arrived
State law assigns the Legislature’s Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee to evaluate “the effectiveness of the cannabis testing facilities, including whether a sufficient number are operating.”³⁵ At the committee’s November 4, 2025 hearing, Sen. John Carley asked whether the department does any testing of its own. One of the department’s two witnesses answered. The witnesses were Health Secretary Melissa Magstadt and Cassie Deffenbaugh, director of the Division of Licensure and Accreditation, and the recording does not make clear which one spoke. According to WeedPress’s transcription, the witness first said that “the only testing that is done in the state are these two separate labs,” and continued:
“And so the Department of Health, the Public Health Lab, used to do testing for cannabis when there was only one lab able to test for cannabis in our state. In 2024, as Wendy mentioned, a second lab became available in the state of South Dakota. And at that point, the Public Health Department then stepped out of the business of being the confirmatory lab. . . . So those labs are able to confirm with one another that what they test was accurate and true.”³⁶
The department’s rules still provide for that function. Before January 1, 2024, every product tested by a licensed lab was subject to routine confirmation testing “by the department or department designee.” Since then, the department may reduce routine confirmation testing for an ISO/IEC 17025-accredited lab that passes its proficiency tests. It may also “require all cannabis testing facilities to participate in confirmation testing to ensure the integrity of testing and consistency among cannabis testing facilities.”³⁷ A lab licensed for less than 18 months must agree to department confirmation testing at its own expense.³⁸ If confirmation results remain discordant after a third round, the lab “must stop all testing of cannabis and cannabis products” until the department approves a corrective action plan.³⁹ Another rule sets out how a lab sends samples to the South Dakota Public Health Laboratory when the department directs it.⁴⁰ In December 2025, the department marked Triverity in compliance on both confirmation-testing items.⁴¹
Those rules show what the department is allowed to require. They do not show what it is doing now. Nothing in the public record WeedPress reviewed shows that verification of test results has stopped, or that the remaining lab is performing poorly.
By the department’s own account, the peer check it relied on after 2024 required two private labs. The state now lists one private testing establishment. Asked directly, the department did not say whether the Public Health Laboratory has resumed confirmation testing, whether another arrangement has replaced it, or whether it has used its confirmation-testing authority under ARSD 44:90:06:08 since Triverity’s certificate closed. It said only that it “may utilize” the laboratory “if confirmation testing is warranted.”¹³⁰ The expense breakdown the department gave the oversight committee for fiscal years 2025 and 2026 lists personnel, travel, software and other contracts, supplies, and capital outlay. It shows no separate line for testing or laboratory support, although the question, submitted by a member of the public, asked about that category by name.⁴²
The department’s own 2025 annual report creates an apparent inconsistency. Its section on the Public Health Laboratory says the lab “is one of two laboratories in the state that provides testing services for South Dakota’s growing medical cannabis industry.”⁴³ The report does not explain that sentence. The cannabis work it goes on to describe is in the laboratory’s forensic section, which has accepted “suspected cannabis and cannabis products for potency testing” since mid-2022. Those cannabis cases rose from 368 in 2024 to 516 in 2025.⁴⁴ WeedPress found nothing in the public record reconciling the report’s description with the department’s November 2025 testimony that only the two private labs test. The report does not say whether the Public Health Laboratory does confirmation testing for the medical program. Asked what testing the laboratory currently does for the medical cannabis program, Kafka wrote: “The public health lab may provide confirmation testing pursuant to ARSD 44:90:06:08.”¹³⁰ She did not say whether it currently does, and the response did not address the report’s “one of two laboratories” description.
Similar language appeared in the department’s 2023 annual report, when the Public Health Laboratory was developing its medical cannabis testing program.⁴⁵ The repetition leaves open whether the 2025 description reflects current operations or language carried forward from an earlier report. The 2023 report also said the laboratory “maintains readiness to test medical cannabis products to ensure product safety and consumer health.”⁴⁶ The 2024 annual report repeats the “one of two laboratories” sentence word for word.⁴⁷
The lab that remains
Cannabis Chem Lab sits at 1311 S. Veterans St. in Flandreau.⁴⁸ Sioux Falls Live reported in 2023 that the building is on the Flandreau Santee Sioux Indian Reservation, next to the tribe’s own cultivation operation. Nieuwenhuis told the outlet his lab is “wholly independent” from the tribe’s Native Nations Cannabis dispensary.⁴⁹ The lab’s website says it was founded in 2020 in partnership with the Flandreau Santee Sioux.⁵⁰ Nieuwenhuis has described its origin this way: “An independent testing laboratory for the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribal government’s cannabis program.”⁵¹ Even though it is located on the reservation, the lab is licensed and inspected by the state Department of Health.⁵²
Public descriptions of who runs the lab have changed over time. Sioux Falls Live described Nieuwenhuis as “founder and owner” in 2023.⁵³ The oversight committee’s November 2025 minutes list him as president of Cannabis Chem Lab Inc.⁵⁴ In September 2026, Adria Johnson signed written rulemaking comments as “Chief Executive Officer, Cannabis ChemLab SD and MN.”⁵⁵ WeedPress has not reviewed the company’s corporate filings. The Department of Health lists the legal name as “Cannabis Chem Lab.”⁵⁶
The lab’s website says it adheres to “the prestigious ISO/IEC 17025 standard,” and it has a page titled “ISO:17025 and D.E.A.”⁵⁷,⁵⁸ The website does not name an accrediting body or certificate number. In December 2023, Sioux Falls Live reported Nieuwenhuis as saying that an accreditation process by an international company would be completed by January 1, 2024.⁵⁹ Before lawmakers in November 2025, he described validation work done “to maintain our ISO accreditation. And to get it in the first place.”⁶⁰
The department posted two inspection reports for the lab. At the May 22, 2024 inspection, items were marked out of compliance for camera placement and recording, inventory tracking and daily inventory, and field audits under ARSD 44:90:06:04.⁶¹ At the June 25, 2025 inspection, one item was out of compliance, recording storage, and every testing-facility item was marked in compliance.⁶² As of October 25, 2026, the department had posted no later inspection of the lab.⁶³
These sources establish different things. The website and Nieuwenhuis’s statements are the company’s own claims about ISO/IEC 17025. The U.S. Department of Agriculture lists the lab as a hemp-testing laboratory, but that entry gives only its Flandreau address and contact information; it does not identify an accrediting body, certificate or scope.⁶⁴ The department’s inspection reports record whether inspectors marked the rule’s accreditation-and-registration item in compliance, under a rule that gives a lab 32 months after registration to complete accreditation.⁶⁵ Independent proof of accreditation would be a certificate from an accrediting body naming the laboratory’s address and the tests it covers. A search of the A2LA public directory returned no listing for Cannabis Chem Lab.⁶⁶ The department’s June 2025 inspection marked the testing-facility requirements in compliance, including “Required Accreditation and Registration — Drug Enforcement Agency 44:90:06:01.”⁶⁷ WeedPress did not independently obtain a current accreditation certificate identifying the Flandreau laboratory’s accredited scope. That gap in independently reviewed records is not evidence that the laboratory lacks accreditation.
Cannabis Chem Lab is the plaintiff in a Beadle County civil case, Cannabis Chem Lab, LLC v. Dakota Natural Solutions, No. 02CIV25-000228, filed September 4, 2025.⁶⁸ WeedPress has not reviewed the complaint and makes no claim about whether the case relates to the lab’s testing.
What the two labs told lawmakers about capacity
At the same November 4, 2025 hearing, committee members asked both lab executives the question the statute assigns the committee: whether South Dakota had enough testing facilities.⁶⁹ According to a WeedPress transcription of the South Dakota Public Broadcasting recording, Young answered:
“We’ve got two testing labs in the state. And there’s not a ton of samples in the state. So I think any further addition of testing labs would . . . wouldn’t be feasible. I think it would probably ruin all of us.”⁷⁰
The answer continued. The recording does not make clear whether Young or Nieuwenhuis was speaking. The speaker said the market has “a ceiling” set by patient numbers, and said, “I think our instruments operate at like 10 percent capacity.”⁷¹ Nieuwenhuis told the committee that the liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometer his lab bought for pesticide testing cost “around a million dollars.”⁷²
Later in the hearing, Young asked for more state oversight of the labs. “I’m not asking you to investigate Jared,” she said, but “it’s critical for the health and the public safety that there is some, some surveillance of the analytical testing labs.”⁷³ Her written presentation concluded that South Dakota’s statutes and rules “establish a comprehensive framework that effectively safeguards patient safety.”⁷⁴ The 32-slide deck also identified gaps. Its slide on research-and-development testing read: “Not allowed per mandate from DOH except for potency and terpene testing.” The next line read: “Prevents cultivators and manufacturers from generating CAPA data needed to solve product quality issues.” CAPA stands for corrective and preventive action.⁷⁵ In August 2026, the department listed “Expanded Research and Development Testing” among its fiscal-year 2026 accomplishments.⁷⁶ The deck also recommended adding water-activity testing, a measure of the water available for microbial growth, for edible products. The rules do not require it.⁷⁷ It also reported Triverity’s own tests of cannabis products bought in Rapid City outside the regulated market. One contained 54.5 percent delta-8 THC, and the deck noted a live bug found in the packaging of another.⁷⁸ Nothing in the deck suggests that Triverity planned to leave the South Dakota market or close the lab. Cannabis Chem Lab’s deck for the same hearing, presented under Nieuwenhuis’s name as “Founder of Cannabis ChemLab,” walked through each required test and the equipment used. It said the state’s tracking system “physically prohibits transfers between establishments and dispensaries without a passing certificate of analysis from the labs.” The deck did not address testing capacity or the number of labs.⁷⁹
What the law requires, and what it does not say
State law defines a testing facility as “an independent entity registered with the department . . . to analyze the safety and potency of cannabis.”⁸⁰ A designated representative of the testing facility must collect each sample. Establishments must have testing done “immediately prior to the transfer” of cannabis for retail sale or of a finished product to another establishment.⁸¹ The department sets certification standards for labs and sampling rules, including a 50-pound cap on flower batches.⁸²
The rules require every batch intended for retail sale to be tested in final form. The panel covers THC potency (with a variance of no more than 10 percent), and cannabidiol if it is labeled. It also covers microbials, mycotoxins, heavy metals, pesticides and solvents.⁸³ Batches that fail for metals, pesticides or prohibited solvents cannot be remediated. Any other remediation requires department permission and a retest.⁸⁴ To keep labs independent, each owner must sign a policy against undue commercial or financial influence. Each owner must also disclose that there is no “financial conflict with, interest in, investment in, landlord-tenant relationship with, or loan to” a cultivator, manufacturer or dispensary.⁸⁵
A lab must begin working with an accreditation body before it accepts samples, and it must finish ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation within 32 months of registration. Otherwise “the department must revoke the facility’s registration.” The lab must also register with the DEA.⁸⁶ Young said Triverity had been licensed since March 2024, and the license number on its website began with “24.” If that date is accurate, the 32-month deadline would have fallen in late 2026, after the lab had already left the list.⁸⁷,⁸⁸ On that timing, the revocation rule does not by itself explain the delisting. WeedPress has not confirmed Triverity’s registration date.
WeedPress found nothing in chapter 34-20G or article 44:90 that addresses what happens if no registered testing facility is available. Without a lab, no batch could be tested, and without a test, no batch could legally move to a dispensary. In January 2022, before any lab held a state license, the Argus Leader reported that the department planned to use its public lab to test medical marijuana products until it approved a testing-license application.⁸⁹ WeedPress found no current written policy that would put the Public Health Laboratory back in that role. Asked what the contingency would be if Cannabis Chem Lab could not operate temporarily, and whether a written plan exists, Kafka wrote: “The Department ensures testing is available for all medical cannabis products.”¹³⁰ She did not say how the department would do that or whether a written contingency plan exists.
The 2026 rules package would change lab duties and does not address lab count
The department filed amendments to article 44:90 on August 21, 2026, and held a hearing September 23.⁹⁰ On October 14, on a motion by Sen. Jim Mehlhaff, R-Pierre, seconded by Rep. Jon Hansen, the Interim Rules Review Committee voted unanimously, 6–0, to deem the rulemaking process complete.⁹¹ As of October 26, 2026, the state’s rules docket listed no Secretary of State filing date or effective date for the package,⁹² and the codified rule still required field audits “at least quarterly.”⁹³ The amendments described below are final text whose effective date WeedPress has not confirmed, not current requirements. [Update, Oct. 28, 2026: The Legislative Research Council’s October 26 South Dakota Register, which appeared after this article was published, lists the package as filed with the Secretary of State on October 16, 2026, and effective November 5, 2026. The committee’s October 14 vote did not itself set that date. As of October 28, the rules docket still listed no filing or effective date, and its “Adopted Rules” document still could not be downloaded.⁹²] Several changes would reach the lab. The final text would change the field audits that labs run on sample collection from “at least quarterly” to “annually.”⁹⁴ At the committee meeting, Sen. Taffy Howard said, “it seems like we’re relaxing a lot of our standards.” Whitney Brunner, the department’s Office of Medical Cannabis administrator, answered that establishments knew the lab’s audits were coming, so the audits “haven’t been productive.” She said the lab would instead work directly with establishments that repeatedly submit samples incorrectly, and would keep one annual sweep.⁹⁵ Johnson, called up to answer Sen. Mehlhaff’s question whether the audits are scheduled or random, said, “We do have to schedule them; it takes roughly 80 hours to hit every entity.” She added that “we run like a skeleton crew at the laboratory, so if I have to go out I need to be able to schedule 80 hours.”⁹⁶
The department’s first draft also struck the DEA-registration requirement for labs. Cannabis Chem Lab objected, and the department restored the language.⁹⁷ The department dropped a proposal to require finished pre-rolls to be retested. Cannabis Chem Lab had argued that the extra round of testing would add costs that are “ultimately . . . passed on to patients.” The department also replaced a proposed ban on decontamination before initial testing with a requirement that the certificate of analysis disclose it.⁹⁸ The hearing minutes summarize Johnson’s oral comments this way: “The laboratory has recently lowered their prices to help the industry.”⁹⁹
WeedPress searched the department’s full hearing record, including the minutes and every written comment, for “Triverity” and for references to the number of labs. It found none. The department’s statement of the rules’ purpose speaks of “operational issues identified.”¹⁰⁰ It does not mention testing capacity.
What one lab means for growers and patients
No public source WeedPress found reports current turnaround times or prices at the remaining lab. The older data points are limited. In February 2023, when Cannabis Chem Lab was the only lab, Nieuwenhuis said he hoped to cut turnaround “from five days to three.”¹⁰¹ Sioux Falls Live reported later that year that testing “used to be about $400 to $500” per batch, and that the cost had gone up after the state required more contaminants to be checked.¹⁰² The lab now says it recently lowered prices, and its website offers a 10 percent discount on testing fees to fellow members of the Cannabis Industry Association and the Hemp Industry Association.¹⁰³,¹⁰⁴
The established change is geographic: Rapid City no longer has a listed lab, and the only one left is in Flandreau, East River. Because state law requires the lab’s own representative to collect samples, the lab’s staff travel to producers.¹⁰⁵ No public record WeedPress found quantifies whether losing the Rapid City lab has raised sampling costs or lengthened turnaround for West River producers. A separate example comes from outside the state system, and it may not involve the same sampling process used for state-licensed producers: tribal cultivators already make the trip. In June 2026, the Lakota Times quoted Justin Pourier, the most recent executive director of the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Marijuana Commission: “our cultivators still travel to Flandreau to have their crops tested.” Pourier said the tribe had looked at a lab on the Pine Ridge Reservation or a mobile lab, but “that hasn’t worked,” and building its own would cost “$700,000 to $1 million for the equipment.” He said cultivators carrying a correct manifest have an understanding that the State Patrol will not bother them.¹⁰⁶
For patients, the stakes are scale and dependence. The oversight committee’s 2025 report put registered patients at 13,453 as of August 2025.¹⁰⁷ The department’s data page counted 20,040 patients in September 2026.¹⁰⁸ The department’s 2025 annual report uses a different measure. It shows 14,843 total approved patients for fiscal year 2025 and says the program “had surpassed 14,000 registered patients” by the end of June 2025. WeedPress has not reconciled that figure with the committee’s August 2025 count.¹⁰⁹ With only Cannabis Chem Lab appearing on the state’s licensed-establishment list, the regulated supply chain now depends on a single listed laboratory.¹¹⁰ Nieuwenhuis has warned lawmakers about “lab shopping,” in which growers pick whichever lab reports higher THC numbers.¹¹¹ With one licensed lab remaining, producers no longer have a choice between competing state-licensed testing facilities. Johnson wrote in September 2026 that patients also bring their own samples to the Flandreau lab for testing.¹¹² The department’s medical cannabis news page listed no recalls or notices as of its July 8, 2026 update.¹¹³
Other states have been here
Montana offers a recent example. In 2025, Montana’s Cannabis Control Division reached a settlement with Nordic Labs of Bozeman, one of the state’s two licensed labs, after an April audit found “deficiencies” in its pesticide testing. Under the agreement, Nordic temporarily stopped pesticide testing. KTVH reported in June 2025 that all products for sale were then going through the other lab, Fidelity Diagnostics in Missoula.¹¹⁴ Fidelity’s co-owner said turnaround had stretched from three to five business days to closer to seven to ten. Wes Stucki, chief executive of a company operating 15 dispensaries, said, “We definitely have had shortages on the shelves.” He also described the larger risk: “The fear is what happens if the one lab that is up and going gets shut down for some reason.”¹¹⁵
New labs
WeedPress found no public record of a pending testing-facility application in South Dakota. The department does not publish pending establishment applications. Asked whether any testing-facility applications are pending, Kafka wrote: “The Department does not comment on applications received. The Department maintains an updated listing of medical cannabis establishments on medcannabis.sd.gov.”¹³⁰ In Rapid City, a cannabis establishment also needs a city license, and the application must list its principals.¹¹⁶ WeedPress has not obtained Rapid City’s license file for Triverity. The only public assessment of demand came from Triverity’s own chief executive in November 2025: another lab “wouldn’t be feasible.”¹¹⁷
What administrative dissolution does, and does not, mean
Under South Dakota’s LLC law, the Secretary of State may begin administrative dissolution when a company does not deliver its annual report within 60 days after it is due.¹¹⁸ A company that is dissolved this way “continues its existence but may carry on only business necessary to wind up and liquidate its business and affairs.”¹¹⁹ It may apply for reinstatement. If reinstated, the company may resume business “as if the administrative dissolution had never occurred.”¹²⁰
WeedPress found no reinstatement in the filing history it reviewed. The order of events is documented: a delinquency notice in December 2025, a dissolution in February 2026, the closure of Triverity’s certificate on April 9, 2026, according to the department, and Triverity’s absence from the department’s list by late May 2026.¹³⁰ No record WeedPress reviewed connects them. The department gave the closure date but did not say why the certificate closed. Whether the department removed Triverity, Triverity surrendered or did not renew its certificate, or something else happened is still not in the public record.
Triverity’s history and accreditation
WeedPress found no record that the Rapid City lab operated under another entity before Triverity Analytical LLC was formed; every public reference uses the Triverity Analytical name. Search-result snippets of Young’s LinkedIn profile list her as “Chief Executive Officer, Triverity Analytical” from October 2023.¹²¹ The lab’s archived About page says she co-founded Triverity Analytical “in 2024,” and that she and Heather Krebs, its director of laboratory operations, co-founded the Loveland, Colorado lab in 2020.¹²² Elevate Rapid City’s March 2024 item said the business “debuted in Rapid City in February 2023,”¹²³ but WeedPress found no South Dakota filing from that period.
Triverity Laboratories’ ISO/IEC 17025 certificate from Perry Johnson Laboratory Accreditation covers one address, 1740 Topaz Drive in Loveland. It states that accreditation claims “shall only be made from the addresses referenced within this certificate.”¹²⁴ WeedPress found no separate certificate for the Rapid City lab in the PJLA, ANAB or IAS directories, and A2LA had no Triverity listing.¹²⁵ The department’s December 2025 inspection marked Triverity in compliance on the accreditation-and-registration item. Under the rule, a lab still inside its 32-month window can comply by having begun work with an accrediting body; finished accreditation is not yet required.¹²⁶,¹²⁷
What WeedPress checked
WeedPress reviewed the department’s establishments list (including a June 5, 2026 archived copy), testing-inspection reports, news and data pages, A–Z reports list, standalone fiscal-year 2023 and 2024 medical cannabis annual reports, and department-wide 2023, 2024 and 2025 annual reports; the oversight committee’s 2025 and 2026 documents, minutes and final report; SDPB audio of the November 4, 2025 oversight committee and October 14, 2026 Interim Rules Review Committee meetings; the complete 2026 article 44:90 rulemaking record; the Secretary of State’s filing history for Triverity Analytical LLC; the archived and current Triverity websites; and news coverage from 2022 to 2026. None of the following searches produced a public explanation for Triverity’s exit:
Reddit: site-wide, r/SouthDakotaMarijuana and r/SouthDakota.
Facebook and LinkedIn: no public Triverity Analytical page could be reached. Young’s LinkedIn profile requires a login and was available only as search-result snippets.
Google news and job searches: no coverage of a closure, sale or delisting, and no job postings explaining it.
Secretary of State: the office has no free public UCC lien search, so liens could not be checked.
X and the web: no public post from Triverity or its customers about the lab’s status.
In the records WeedPress reviewed through October 25, 2026, no public statement from Triverity, the Department of Health or anyone in the industry explained why Triverity left the list. That is a finding about the public record, not a claim that anyone has declined to answer. The department’s Oct. 29 response to WeedPress gave the date the certificate closed but not a reason.¹³⁰
Some records are still unchecked. WeedPress has not read the March 2024 Triverity amendment, and has not reviewed Rapid City’s medical cannabis license file or the Unified Judicial System dockets.
WeedPress found no standalone fiscal-year 2025 medical cannabis annual report. The department’s A–Z reports list shows standalone reports only for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, and none appears on the program’s data page or in the oversight committee’s 2025 and 2026 documents.¹²⁸ In written answers posted for the October 2026 committee meeting, the department said the statutory requirement for a program annual report “has been sunset” and that it continues to publish medical cannabis revenue, expenditure and program data in its department-wide annual report.¹²⁹
What we don’t know yet
Why Triverity Analytical’s certificate closed on April 9, 2026, and the exact date it came off the department’s list.
Whether the department took any action against Triverity’s registration, or whether Triverity surrendered it or let it lapse.
Whether the Rapid City lab has stopped testing, and if so, when.
Whether the Rapid City lab ever completed ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation for its own address.
What the March 14, 2024 Articles of Amendment changed.
Whether the Public Health Laboratory has performed any confirmation testing since Triverity’s certificate closed on April 9, 2026, now that the state lists no second private testing establishment to cross-check results, and what the department’s 2025 annual report means when it calls that laboratory one of two that test for the medical cannabis industry.
Whether the department has a written contingency plan for testing if Cannabis Chem Lab cannot operate.
Current turnaround times and prices at Cannabis Chem Lab, and whether producers have seen delays since spring 2026.
Whether any company has applied to open a new testing facility. The department says it does not comment on applications received.
What the Beadle County suit against Dakota Natural Solutions alleges.
When the October 2026 rules changes take effect.
WeedPress sent written questions on October 26, 2026, to the South Dakota Department of Health, Triverity Analytical and Cannabis Chem Lab seeking an explanation for Triverity’s departure, the status of independent confirmation testing and the state’s contingency plans. The Department of Health responded by email on October 29, 2026, and its answers are quoted in this article.¹³⁰ As of October 29, WeedPress had not received responses from Triverity Analytical or Cannabis Chem Lab.
Footnotes
1. S.D. Codified Laws § 34-20G-65.1 (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/34-20G-65.1.
2. S.D. Dep’t of Health, South Dakota Medical Cannabis Establishments List (content last updated Aug. 27, 2026),https://doh.sd.gov/programs/medical-cannabis/medical-cannabis-establishments/establishments-list/ (viewed Oct. 25, 2026) (listing one testing establishment, Cannabis Chem Lab, Flandreau).
3. S.D. Dep’t of Health, 2025 MMOC Presentation, at slide 15 (“2025 Establishment Count”) (Aug. 19, 2025),https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/285695.pdf.
4. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Medical Cannabis Establishment Inspection Report: Triverity Analytical (Dec. 3, 2025),https://doh.sd.gov/media/rugbkzcx/20251203_triverity_t_rapidcity.pdf.
5. S.D. Dep’t of Health, South Dakota Medical Cannabis Establishments List (content last updated May 29, 2026),archived athttps://web.archive.org/web/20260605052629/https://doh.sd.gov/programs/medical-cannabis/med-cannabis-establishments/establishments-list/ (captured June 5, 2026).
6. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Medical Cannabis Program Overview and Status, at slide 15 (“2026 Establishment Count”) (Aug. 17, 2026),https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/307362.pdf.
7. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Medical Cannabis News and Announcements (content last updated July 8, 2026),https://doh.sd.gov/programs/medical-cannabis/news-updates/.
8. S.D. Sec’y of State, Business Entity Detail: Triverity Analytical LLC, Business ID DL260519,https://sosenterprise.sd.gov/BusinessServices/Business/FilingDetail.aspx?CN=192176025053095090151161060183094067039161089126 (viewed Oct. 25, 2026).
9. Id. (Initial Filing, Doc. No. B0286-2940, filed Oct. 11, 2023).
10. Sydney Riendeau, Ribbon Cutting – Triverity Analytical LLC, Elevate Rapid City (Mar. 22, 2024),https://www.elevaterapidcity.com/news/2024/03/22/ribbon-cutting/ribbon-cutting-triverity-analytical-llc/.
11. S.D. Sec’y of State, Triverity Analytical LLC, supra note 8 (Articles of Amendment, Doc. No. B0295-7817, filed Mar. 14, 2024).
12. Riendeau, supra note 10.
13. Tyler Louder, Cannabis Testing Laboratory in the Black Hills, KELOLAND News (Mar. 19, 2024),https://www.keloland.com/news/local-news/cannabis-testing-laboratory-in-the-black-hills/, archived athttps://web.archive.org/web/20240404020407/https://www.keloland.com/news/local-news/cannabis-testing-laboratory-in-the-black-hills/.
14. News Staff, Medical Marijuana Testing Facility to Open in RC, KBHB News (Mar. 20, 2024),https://kbhbradio.com/medical-marijuana-testing-facility-to-open-in-rc/.
15. Audio recording: Medical Marijuana Oversight Comm., 3d Meeting, 2025 Interim (S.D. Nov. 4, 2025), at 0:23:50–0:23:55,https://sdpb.sd.gov/sdpbpodcast/2025/interim/mmo11042025.mp3 (S.D. Pub. Broad.) (WeedPress transcription).
16. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Official Cannabis Facility Inspection Report: Triverity Analytical (Nov. 1, 2024),https://doh.sd.gov/media/05ra4ec3/20241101_triverity_t_rapidcity.pdf.
17. S.D. Sec’y of State, Triverity Analytical LLC, supra note 8 (2024 Annual Report, Doc. No. B0341-5775, filed Dec. 23, 2024).
18. S.D. Dep’t of Health, 2025 Annual Report (undated; PDF created Jan. 9, 2026), at 54–55,https://doh.sd.gov/media/lfnlqfxu/2025-sd-doh-annual-report.pdf.
19. S.D. Dep’t of Health, 2025 MMOC Presentation, supranote 3.
20. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee 2025 Final Report 1–2 (2025),https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/288146.pdf.
21. Minutes, Medical Marijuana Oversight Comm., 3d Meeting, 2025 Interim, at 1 (S.D. Nov. 4, 2025),https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/287684.pdf.
22. MMOC 2025 Final Report, supra note 20, at 2.
23. S.D. Sec’y of State, Triverity Analytical LLC, supra note 8 (Notice of Delinquency/Administrative Dissolution, Doc. No. B0406-7101, dated Dec. 12, 2025).
24. Triverity Dec. 3, 2025 Inspection Report, supra note 4, at 2, 6.
25. S.D. Sec’y of State, Triverity Analytical LLC, supra note 8 (Doc. No. B0406-7101).
26. Triverity Analytical, Home,https://www.triverityanalytical.com/ (archived Dec. 14, 2025, athttps://web.archive.org/web/20251214044550/https://www.triverityanalytical.com/, and Mar. 5, 2026, athttps://web.archive.org/web/20260305233323/https://www.triverityanalytical.com/).
27. Triverity Analytical, About (archived Feb. 9, 2026),https://web.archive.org/web/20260209215827/https://www.triverityanalytical.com/about.
28. S.D. Sec’y of State, Triverity Analytical LLC, supra note 8.
29. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Establishments List (May 29, 2026), supra note 5.
30. S.D. Dep’t of Health, 2026 Program Overview, supranote 6.
31. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Establishments List, supra note 2.
32. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Medical Cannabis Testing Inspection Reports, https://doh.sd.gov/programs/medical-cannabis/medical-cannabis-establishments/inspection-reports/testing-reports/ (viewed Oct. 25, 2026).
33. Triverity Laboratories, Home,https://www.triveritylabs.com/ (viewed Oct. 25, 2026).
34. Triverity Laboratories, About Us,https://www.triveritylabs.com/about (viewed Oct. 25, 2026).
35. S.D. Codified Laws § 34-20G-93(3) (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/34-20G-93.
36. MMOC Nov. 4, 2025 Audio, supra note 15, at 1:12:54–1:13:56.
37. S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:06:08 (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:06:08.
38. S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:03:07(3)(b)(ii) (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:03:07.
39. S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:06:09 (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:06:09.
40. S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:06:10 (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:06:10.
41. Triverity Dec. 3, 2025 Inspection Report, supra note 4, at 6.
42. S.D. Dep’t of Health, MMOC Questions and DOH Response 1–2 (Aug. 24, 2026) (posted for the Oct. 13, 2026 Medical Marijuana Oversight Comm. meeting),https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/308372.pdf.
43. S.D. Dep’t of Health, 2025 Annual Report, supra note 18, at 19.
44. Id. at 20.
45. S.D. Dep’t of Health, 2023 Annual Report (PDF created Jan. 9, 2024), at 12,https://doh.sd.gov/media/hk2bcmzf/2023-sd-doh-annual-report.pdf.
46. Id.
47. S.D. Dep’t of Health, 2024 Annual Report (PDF created Dec. 20, 2024), at 18,https://doh.sd.gov/media/jeqlqbgc/2024-sd-doh-annual-report-web.pdf.
48. Cannabis ChemLab, About,https://www.cannabischemlab.com/about (viewed Oct. 25, 2026).
49. Barry Amundson, South Dakota’s Only Medical Marijuana Testing Lab Keeping It Safe, Sioux Falls Live (Dec. 7, 2023), https://www.siouxfallslive.com/news/south-dakota/south-dakotas-only-medical-marijuana-testing-lab-keeping-it-safe.
50. Cannabis ChemLab, About, supra note 48.
51. Beth Warden, See Inside South Dakota’s Only Cannabis Testing Lab, Dakota News Now (Feb. 12, 2023),https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/2023/02/13/see-inside-south-dakotas-only-cannabis-testing-lab/.
52. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Testing Inspection Reports, supranote 32.
53. Amundson, supra note 49.
54. MMOC Nov. 4, 2025 Minutes, supra note 21.
55. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Form 10: Minutes of Public Hearing, Proposed Amendments to ARSD art. 44:90 (Sept. 23, 2026), with attached written comments, at 49 (comments of Adria Johnson, Cannabis ChemLab), available athttps://rules.sd.gov/detail.aspx?Id=970 (“Agency Rules Hearing Minutes”).
56. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Establishments List, supra note 2.
57. Cannabis ChemLab, Home,https://www.cannabischemlab.com/ (viewed Oct. 25, 2026).
58. Cannabis ChemLab, ISO:17025 and D.E.A.,https://www.cannabischemlab.com/iso17025anddea (viewed Oct. 25, 2026).
59. Amundson, supra note 49.
60. MMOC Nov. 4, 2025 Audio, supra note 15, at 0:51:19–0:51:24.
61. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Official Cannabis Facility Inspection Report: Cannabis Chem Lab (May 22, 2024),https://doh.sd.gov/media/vdnpkcyv/20240522_cannabischemlab_t_flandreau.pdf.
62. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Official Cannabis Facility Inspection Report: Cannabis Chem Lab (June 25, 2025),https://doh.sd.gov/media/owsku3gu/20250625_cannabischemlab_t_flandreau.pdf.
63. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Testing Inspection Reports, supranote 32.
64. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., Agric. Mktg. Serv., Cannabis ChemLab, https://www.ams.usda.gov/content/cannabis-chemlab (viewed Oct. 26, 2026).
65. S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:06:01 (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:06:01.
66. Am. Ass’n for Lab’y Accreditation, Directory of Accredited Organizations,https://customer.a2la.org/index.cfm?event=directory.index(searched Oct. 25, 2026, for “Triverity,” “Cannabis Chem,” and “Flandreau”).
67. Cannabis Chem Lab June 25, 2025 Inspection Report,supra note 62, at 3.
68. Cannabis Chem Lab, LLC v. Dakota Nat. Sols., No. 02CIV25-000228 (S.D. Cir. Ct. Beadle Cnty. filed Sept. 4, 2025); see WeedPress, Civil Case Inquiry — Cannabis Chem Lab, LLC v. Dakota Natural Solutions (Sept. 2025) (Jan. 22, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/01/22/civil-case-inquiry-cannabis-chem-lab-llc-v-dakota-natural-solutions-sept-2025/(earlier WeedPress post reporting the case number, filing date and docket status; it does not describe the complaint).
69. S.D. Codified Laws § 34-20G-93, supra note 35.
70. MMOC Nov. 4, 2025 Audio, supra note 15, at 1:04:20.
71. Id. at 1:04:37–1:05:24.
72. Id. at 0:17:27–0:17:40.
73. Id. at 2:20:43–2:21:14.
74. Wendi Young, Triverity Analytical, Efficacy of Statutes and Rules to Protect Patient Safety (presentation to the Medical Marijuana Oversight Comm., Nov. 4, 2025), at 31,https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/288396.pdf.
75. Id. at 18.
76. S.D. Dep’t of Health, 2026 Program Overview, supranote 6, at 25 (“FY26 Program Accomplishments”).
77. Young, Efficacy of Statutes and Rules, supra note 74, at 17.
78. Id. at 25.
79. Jared J. Nieuwenhuis, Cannabis ChemLab, Medical Cannabis: Structural Overview of the Industry (presentation to the Medical Marijuana Oversight Comm., Nov. 4, 2025),https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/288436.pdf.
80. S.D. Codified Laws § 34-20G-1(5) (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/34-20G-1.
81. S.D. Codified Laws § 34-20G-65.1, supra note 1.
82. S.D. Codified Laws § 34-20G-72(4)(k)–(l) (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/34-20G-72.
83. S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:09:01 (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:09:01.
84. S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:09:11 (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:09:11.
85. S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:03:07(1)–(2) (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:03:07.
86. S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:06:01, supra note 65.
87. MMOC Nov. 4, 2025 Audio, supra note 15, at 0:23:50–0:23:55.
88. Triverity Analytical, Home (archived), supra note 26.
89. South Dakota Medical Marijuana Businesses Prepare for Rollout Delays, Argus Leader (Jan. 27, 2022),https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/business-journal/2022/01/27/south-dakota-medical-marijuana-businesses-prepare-rollout-delays/6591630001/.
90. 53 S.D. Reg. 25 (Aug. 31, 2026),https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/Register/307532.pdf?Year=2026.
91. Audio recording: Interim Rules Review Comm. (S.D. Oct. 14, 2026), at 2:29:06–2:29:42,https://sdpb.sd.gov/sdpbpodcast/2026/interim/rul10142026.mp3 (S.D. Pub. Broad.) (WeedPress transcription); Interim Rules Review Comm., Minutes 9 (S.D. Oct. 14, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/308282.pdf (“Senator Jim Mehlhaff moved, seconded by Representative Jon Hansen, . . . . The motion prevailed on a roll call vote with 6 AYES.”).
92. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Off. of Med. Cannabis, Rule Detail: Article 44:90 Amendments,https://rules.sd.gov/detail.aspx?Id=970 (“Important Dates” showing no Secretary of State filing or effective date, viewed Oct. 26 and Oct. 28, 2026); Final Administrative Rules, 53 S.D. Reg. 56 (Oct. 26, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/Register/308659.pdf (listing ARSD art. 44:90 amendments as filed Oct. 16, 2026, effective Nov. 5, 2026); see S.D. Codified Laws § 1-26-6 (rules “provisionally effective on the twentieth day after being filed, not counting the day of filing”).
93. S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:06:04 (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:06:04(viewed Oct. 26, 2026).
94. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Latest Version of Rule (w/amendments), Proposed Amendments to ARSD art. 44:90, § 44:90:06:04, available athttps://rules.sd.gov/detail.aspx?Id=970.
95. IRRC Oct. 14, 2026 Audio, supra note 91, at 2:23:02–2:24:18; Interim Rules Review Comm., Minutes, supra note 91, at 8.
96. IRRC Oct. 14, 2026 Audio, supra note 91, at 2:27:35–2:28:41; Interim Rules Review Comm., Minutes, supra note 91, at 9 (Adria Johnson “confirmed the inspections are scheduled to ensure that certified inspectors are available to conduct them”).
97. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Form 10 Hearing Minutes, supranote 55, at 4, 17.
98. Id. at 17, 48.
99. Id. at 13.
100. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Rule Detail, supra note 92.
101. Warden, supra note 51.
102. Amundson, supra note 49.
103. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Form 10 Hearing Minutes, supranote 55, at 13.
104. Cannabis ChemLab, Home, supra note 57.
105. S.D. Codified Laws § 34-20G-65.1, supra note 1.
106. Tom Crash, Tribe’s Marijuana Industry Has Growing Pains, Lakota Times (June 10, 2026),https://www.lakotatimes.com/articles/tribes-marijuana-industry-has-growing-pains/.
107. MMOC 2025 Final Report, supra note 20, at 1.
108. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Medical Cannabis Data (content last updated Oct. 9, 2026),https://doh.sd.gov/programs/medical-cannabis/med-cannabis-data/.
109. S.D. Dep’t of Health, 2025 Annual Report, supra note 18, at 51–52.
110. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Establishments List, supra note 2.
111. Warden, supra note 51.
112. S.D. Dep’t of Health, Form 10 Hearing Minutes, supranote 55, at 46.
113. S.D. Dep’t of Health, News and Announcements, supranote 7.
114. Jonathon Ambarian, Montana Marijuana Industry Shares Concerns over Testing, KTVH (June 2025),https://www.ktvh.com/news/montana-politics/montana-marijuana-industry-shares-concerns-over-testing.
115. Id.
116. Rapid City, S.D., Mun. Code § 5.74.030 (2026),https://rapidcity.municipal.codes/RCMC/5.74.030.
117. MMOC Nov. 4, 2025 Audio, supra note 15, at 1:04:20.
118. S.D. Codified Laws § 47-34A-809(2) (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/47-34A-809.
119. S.D. Codified Laws § 47-34A-810(c) (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/47-34A-810.
120. S.D. Codified Laws § 47-34A-811(a), (c) (2026),https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/47-34A-811.
121. Wendi Young, LinkedIn profile,https://linkedin.com/in/wendi-young23 (as characterized in web search-result snippets viewed Oct. 25, 2026; the profile itself requires a login and was not reviewed directly).
122. Triverity Analytical, About (archived), supra note 27.
123. Riendeau, supra note 10.
124. Perry Johnson Lab’y Accreditation, Inc., Certificate of Accreditation: Triverity Laboratories LLC, Cert. No. L25-866 (issued Nov. 24, 2025; expires Feb. 29, 2028),https://www.pjview.com/clients/pjl/viewcert.cfm?certnumber=28165.
125. A2LA Directory, supra note 66.
126. Triverity Dec. 3, 2025 Inspection Report, supra note 4, at 6.
127. S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:06:01, supra note 65.
128. S.D. Dep’t of Health, A-Z Health Reports,https://doh.sd.gov/a-z-reports/ (viewed Oct. 26, 2026).
129. S.D. Dep’t of Health, MMOC Questions and DOH Response, supra note 42, at 3.
130. Email from Tia Kafka, Mktg. & Outreach Dir., Off. of Commc’n & Mktg., Div. of Healthcare Access, S.D. Dep’t of Health, to Jason Karimi, Publisher, WeedPress (Oct. 29, 2026, 2:31 p.m. CT) (on file with WeedPress) (responding to written questions WeedPress sent Oct. 26, 2026).
Leave a Reply