KENTUCKY — Inside what used to be an auto parts store in Mount Washington, you’ll find one of the most stringent laboratories in Kentucky for testing hemp.

As head of the first - but not only - DEA-certified testing facility in the state, Kaycha CEO Mick Tarullo feels his company has a leg up.

“The profits will come but they don’t come overnight,” Tarullo calmly said, as he stood in the hallway of his new hospital-clean facility. “We’re building a foundation here; we want to be here for the long haul.”

Along with other labs, Kaycha plays a crucial roll in hemp and CBD production; making sure all samples sent to them are below the 0.3% THC required by Kentucky law. THC is the stuff that gets you high, and any crop found above that level is required to be destroyed.

We ventured to a quiet farm in Caneyville, called Camelot by the family that holds it dear. In his first year of hemp production, farmer Jimmy Riggs has had to have a storybook imagination to wade through this uncertain industry.

“It was a pretty decent year,” Riggs said, standing in front of hundreds of drying cannabis plants. “Thieves are a big problem, though.”

As if this new venture weren’t stressful enough, Riggs said his game cameras and even he personally has repeatedly caught thieves stealing plants; mistaking them for marijuana or trying to pass them off as pot anyway to unsuspecting buyers.

But Riggs has larger concerns. That strict THC law leaves little room for error. He says it forces him to harvest plants before maturity or rick THC growth beyond legal levels. He hopes lawmakers consider raising the legal limit to ease concerns from producers. He relies on Kaycha’s testing and says he hasn’t yet received notice of a bad batch. But, if he does, he’ll have to burn an entire year’s work.