According to a marijuana testing lab in San Diego, almost 80% of the unregulated cannabis vape cartridges they tested were deemed “unfit for consumption”, reports ABC10 News.

Platinum Vape manufacturing company produces high-potency, pesticide-free cannabis products that go through rigorous testing, reports ABC10. Co-founder George Sadler is on a mission to spread awareness about the serious potential health risks of using products from unlicensed vape makers and sellers.

“It’s horrible,” he tells 10News, adding, “It’s doing so much harm to people, versus walking into a licensed store.”

Platinum Vape recently teamed up with nearby licensed cannabis dispensary Mankind to buy back cartridges that ranged from home-made concentrates to counterfeits of popular legal brands. In exchange, customers got discounted Platinum Vape cartridges that are tested and regulated.

Mankind Chief Operating Officer Vera Levitt tells 10News, “We wanted to encourage them to replace something that could make them sick with something that was safe.”

The cartridges were sent to Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs, or InfiniteCAL. It’s a local cannabis testing lab that then analyzed the cartridges for potency, pesticides, and heavy metals. The lab found that 79% of the cartridges were deemed “unfit for consumption”. Additionally, 62% of them failed for pesticides. Almost 40% of the cartridges failed for lead.

“[Were there] toxic levels of lead?” 10News asks InfiniteCAL co-founder David Marelius. “One of the vape pens had almost a hundred times the legal limit,” he explains.

“The lab also discovered that half of the products had less than 50% THC in them”, states the ABC report. “Some of the cartridges were cut with excessive levels of vitamin E acetate; the additive may be linked to numerous vape-related deaths and illnesses. Marelius adds, “20% of them had a significant amount.”

“It’s sad for me. Public safety is a really important part of what we do and what we believe in,” says Levitt.

Levitt says that the only way to ensure that customers are getting safe products is if they buy them from legal and regulated outlets

“I think the exposure needs to be there for people to really understand what’s happening,” adds Sadler.