A marijuana lab licensed in Michigan is suing the Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) over a recall that impacted nearly $230 million worth and 64,000 pounds of marijuana products in the state.
Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher M. Murray on Monday appeared to scold the MRA for its lack of clear communication about the matter.
Issued on Nov. 17, the recall involved more than 400 retail shops, and their customers, were impacted in some way.
Viridis Laboratories, which operates two separately licensed labs one being in Bay City and another in Lansing claim the recall is politically motivated. Because Viridis is so successful, handling up to 70% of all marijuana testing in the state, the MRA wants to “level the playing field,” according to the Viridis lawsuit filed in the Michigan Court of Claims on Nov. 22. The lawsuit also alleged the recall may be retribution for a formal administrative complaint Viridis filed Oct. 25 against the MRA, in part, for questions Viridis faced over its testing methods that regularly produce THC potency results in excess of 30%.
Cannabis with higher potency generally fetches higher prices from retail customers.
Viridis founders include three former Michigan State Police Forensic Division employees: Greg Michaud, Todd Welch and Michele Glinn.
The Viridis complaint was filed a day before MRA inspectors were expected to begin on-site audits at the Viridis lab locations.
The MRA issued a recall on most marijuana products Viridis labs tested between Aug. 10 and Nov. 16, calling the labs results “inaccurate” or “unreliable,”. It said the products must undergo new microbial testing, which looks for pathogens, yeast and mold.
Glinn, who is also Viridis’ chief science officer, testified Wednesday and said there was mass confusion after the recall. Her office was initially told they were cleared to retest recalled product, but the MRA was telling customers the opposite.
Glinn said her staff later worked through Thanksgiving weekend to comply with a checklist of demands from the MRA to improve the lab testing methods and get full clearance to continue operations.
Exhibits filed in the Court of Claims by Viridis, including emails exchanges with the MRA and results of on-site audits, identified significant procedural flaws in past testing methods. Viridis failed to keep logs necessary to validate test procedures, passed moldy samples that auditors identified as contaminated, failed to calibrate equipment as regularly as required and possessed untagged samples.
In order to test for the presence or growth of certain yeast, molds or pathogens, samples are placed in incubators for various lengths of time, usually between 24 and 72 hours, within designated temperature ranges.
The MRA audit found that Viridis labs weren’t using logs to track when samples were placed into and removed from incubators. It also found incubators weren’t keeping samples at the proper temperatures.
The lab personnel confirmed there were no logs, which Viridis argues are not required. Without logs, it’s impossible to tell when a sample was placed in the incubator, and a sample is more likely to pass testing if it is not stored for the full incubation period.
The recall occurred three weeks after the audits were conducted.
The MRA provided three options to retailers, growers and processors with recalled marijuana, none of them cheap: Destroy the product, have the product retested or send the product back to the license source so they may destroy or retest the marijuana. In the meantime, all of the recalled marijuana was placed on hold and unable to be sold.
DISCLAIMER This post may contain re-posted content, opinions, comments, ads, third party posts, outdated information, posts from disgruntled persons, posts from those with agendas and general internet BS. Therefore…Before you believe anything on the internet regarding anything – do your research on Official Government and State Sites, Call the Michigan State Police, Check the State Attorney General Website and Consult an Attorney – Use Your Brain.
A cannabis testing lab is suing the Michigan’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency over a major recall of cannabis products. Many products tested by Viridis Laboratories were pulled from shelves The marijuana products impacted have a test date between August 10, 2021 and November 16, 2021..
64,000-pound, $229 million Michigan marijuana recall is the result of bureaucratic ‘abuse,’ a lawsuit claims
The lawsuit filed Monday alleges state regulators acted in a discriminatory and predatory manner when they questioned the safety of a variety of cannabis products tested by Viridis Labs.
The recall is the largest in Michigan history and involves more than $200 million in pulled cannabis products across the state, according to a news release from Viridis’ attorneys.
Attorneys representing Viridis say the agency violated state law by not letting he company to present its case to an administrative law judge before shutting down the company’s labs.
“The recall is the latest and most egregious action by the MRA in a prolonged campaign of harassment aimed at Viridis,” said David Russell, an attorney with Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith, P.C. “Unfortunately, this latest effort by the MRA has caused huge disruption and chaos in the industry, harming small businesses and besmirching Viridis’ reputation with no basis in science.”
The recall affects numerous products processed by the company from early August to mid-November. It includes items tested at a Bay City location, although Virdis alleges that the products the MRA says failed retesting came exclusively from a Lansing location.
MRA officials declined to comment on the pending litigation.
The Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) has identified inaccurate and/or unreliable results of products tested by laboratories Viridis North, LLC and Viridis Laboratories, LLC.
In the interest of public health and safety, the MRA is issuing this health and safety advisory bulletin for all marijuana products tested by Viridis Laboratories, LLC (license numbers SC-000009 and AU-SC-000113) and Viridis North, LLC (license numbers SC-000014 and AU-SC-000103) except for inhalable marijuana concentrate products such as:
Vape carts.
Live resin.
Distillate.
Any other cannabis concentrate created through residual solvent extractions.
The marijuana products impacted have a test date between August 10, 2021 and November 16, 2021. All marijuana product labels are required to list the name and license number of the safety compliance facility that conducted the testing and date the product was tested.
Note: An MRA investigation is still on-going.
Consumers who have marijuana products in their possession that meet the recall criteria may return the products to the marijuana sales location where they were purchased for proper disposal. Consumers with weakened immune systems or lung disease are at the highest risk for health-related incidents such as aspergillosis, which can impact lung function, if these potentially harmful products are consumed.
Consumers who have experienced adverse reactions after using these products should report their symptoms and product use to their physician. Consumers are requested to report any adverse product reactions to the MRA via email: MRA-Enforcement@michigan.gov or via phone: 517-284-8599.
Marijuana sales locations that sold product covered by this bulletin must display this recall notice on the sales floor, visible to all customers, for 30 days from the date of this notice. Marijuana sales locations that receive adverse product reactions from consumers should report the adverse product reactions to the agency at MRA-Enforcement@michigan.gov and document these reports in METRC.
Licensees with products remaining in their inventory that meet the recall criteria have the following options:
DISCLAIMER This post may contain re-posted content, opinions, comments, ads, third party posts, outdated information, posts from disgruntled persons, posts from those with agendas and general internet BS. Therefore…Before you believe anything on the internet regarding anything – do your research on Official Government and State Sites, Call the Michigan State Police, Check the State Attorney General Website and Consult an Attorney – Use Your Brain.
The Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) has identified inaccurate and/or unreliable results of products tested by laboratories Viridis North, LLC and Viridis Laboratories, LLC.
A link to the locations affected by the recall is at the end of this information
In the interest of public health and safety, the MRA is issuing this health and safety advisory bulletin for all marijuana products tested by Viridis Laboratories, LLC (license numbers SC-000009 and AU-SC-000113) and Viridis North, LLC (license numbers SC-000014 and AU-SC-000103) except for inhalable marijuana concentrate products such as:
Vape carts.
Live resin.
Distillate.
Any other cannabis concentrate created through residual solvent extractions.
The marijuana products impacted have a test date between August 10, 2021 and November 16, 2021. All marijuana product labels are required to list the name and license number of the safety compliance facility that conducted the testing and date the product was tested.
Note: An MRA investigation is still on-going.
Consumers who have marijuana products in their possession that meet the recall criteria may return the products to the marijuana sales location where they were purchased for proper disposal. Consumers with weakened immune systems or lung disease are at the highest risk for health-related incidents such as aspergillosis, which can impact lung function, if these potentially harmful products are consumed.
Consumers who have experienced adverse reactions after using these products should report their symptoms and product use to their physician. Consumers are requested to report any adverse product reactions to the MRA via email: MRA-Enforcement@michigan.gov or via phone: 517-284-8599.
Marijuana sales locations that sold product covered by this bulletin must display this recall notice on the sales floor, visible to all customers, for 30 days from the date of this notice. Marijuana sales locations that receive adverse product reactions from consumers should report the adverse product reactions to the agency at MRA-Enforcement@michigan.gov and document these reports in METRC.
Licensees with products remaining in their inventory that meet the recall criteria have the following options:
Have the product retested for the microbials compliance panel.
Send the product back to the original licensee source so they can destroy or have the product retested as a larger batch.
Licensees that opt to have product sent back or retested will need to create new METRC packages with new METRC identification numbers prior to transferring or submitting the products for testing. Additional guidance can be provided to licensees who need assistance in creating these packages by reaching out to MRA-Compliance@michigan.gov.
The Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) has identified inaccurate and/or unreliable results of products tested by laboratories Viridis North, LLC and Viridis Laboratories, LLC.
In the interest of public health and safety, the MRA is issuing this health and safety advisory bulletin for all marijuana products tested by Viridis Laboratories, LLC (license numbers SC-000009 and AU-SC-000113) and Viridis North, LLC (license numbers SC-000014 and AU-SC-000103) except for inhalable marijuana concentrate products such as:
Vape carts.
Live resin.
Distillate.
Any other cannabis concentrate created through residual solvent extractions.
The marijuana products impacted have a test date between August 10, 2021 and November 16, 2021. All marijuana product labels are required to list the name and license number of the safety compliance facility that conducted the testing and date the product was tested.
Note: An MRA investigation is still on-going.
Consumers who have marijuana products in their possession that meet the recall criteria may return the products to the marijuana sales location where they were purchased for proper disposal. Consumers with weakened immune systems or lung disease are at the highest risk for health-related incidents such as aspergillosis, which can impact lung function, if these potentially harmful products are consumed.
Consumers who have experienced adverse reactions after using these products should report their symptoms and product use to their physician. Consumers are requested to report any adverse product reactions to the MRA via email: MRA-Enforcement@michigan.gov or via phone: 517-284-8599.
Marijuana sales locations that sold product covered by this bulletin must display this recall notice on the sales floor, visible to all customers, for 30 days from the date of this notice. Marijuana sales locations that receive adverse product reactions from consumers should report the adverse product reactions to the agency at MRA-Enforcement@michigan.gov and document these reports in METRC.
Licensees with products remaining in their inventory that meet the recall criteria have the following options:
Have the product retested for the microbials compliance panel.
Send the product back to the original licensee source so they can destroy or have the product retested as a larger batch.
Licensees that opt to have product sent back or retested will need to create new METRC packages with new METRC identification numbers prior to transferring or submitting the products for testing. Additional guidance can be provided to licensees who need assistance in creating these packages by reaching out to MRA-Compliance@michigan.gov.
On November 17, 2021, the Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) issued a Notification of Marijuana Product Recall for all marijuana products tested by Viridis Laboratories, LLC (license numbers SC-000009 and AU-SC-000113) and Viridis North, LLC (license numbers SC000014 and AU-SC-000103) except for inhalable marijuana concentrate products such as vape carts, live resin, distillate, and any other cannabis concentrate created through residual solvent extractions. The marijuana products impacted have a test date between August 10, 2021 and November 16, 2021.
Cannabis flower being recalled is about 64,000 pounds. In October, 24,000 pounds of flower were sold in Michigan. Estimated this recall likely affects more than $200 million worth of marijuana product.
Just who is going to win and lose in this remains to be seen. Is there something deeper and how deep does it go?
Medical Marijuana Patients with Caregivers should have no worries about shortages of medicine
Who is Viridis Laboratories?
They used to do forensic science for the Michigan State Police. Throwing people in jail. Now they test cannabis.
Viridis Laboratories recently announced its Bay City location has received accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 and the Americans for Safe Access (ASA) requirements, the highest accreditation awarded to cannabis testing laboratories, and a Patient Focused Certification (PFC) through the Americans for Safe Access. Viridis is the only cannabis testing laboratory system in Michigan to be accredited and certified to these additional requirements for cannabis testing laboratories.
The Bay City location received its accreditation from the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA), the leading cannabis testing accrediting body in the United States.
“As cannabis continues to be legalized in states across the country, it has never been more important to promote health and safety by providing consistent, safe and high-quality cannabis products to patients and adult-use consumers,” said Greg Michaud, CEO of Viridis Laboratories. “A2LA’s revered accreditation program confirms Viridis’ commitment to providing cutting-edge, accurate testing as Michigan’s premier cannabis testing laboratory and ensures companies provide products consistently free of harmful chemicals and foreign matter. We are truly honored that our dedication to excellence and high standards has allowed us to receive this prestigious accreditation.”
Laboratory accreditation is a lengthy process of independent, third-party review that validates Viridis’ continued commitment to quality assurance throughout its operations.
With both the Lansing and Bay City laboratories A2LA-accredited and PFC certified, the labs’ customers will have greater confidence in the safety and concentration of their cannabis products.
Kyle Rittenhouse found not guilty on all counts in Kenosha trial
Jurors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Friday declared Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts, capping off an intense trial surrounding the deadly unrest in that city last summer.
Rittenhouse, 18, would have faced a mandatory life sentence if found guilty and convicted of first-degree intentional homicide.
The verdict came on the fourth day of deliberations and 15th day of the trial.
