Another Denver-area dispensary has recalled its products because of potentially unsafe pesticide use. Kirke LLC/Metro Denver Telluride Health Center LLC, known to its customers as The Hemp Center, has voluntarily issued a recall on all medical marijuana sold with Optional Premises Cultivation codes of 403-00892 and 403-00899, according to the Denver Department of Environmental Health. The pesticide chemicals responsible for the recall are Avermectin, Bifenazate, Imidacloprid and Myclobutanil, all of which are banned by the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
The Hemp Center cultivation destroyed approximately 1,279 plants and nearly 71 pounds of dried flower on August 9, according to DEH documents that Westword obtained through a Colorado Open Records Act request. Owner Melissa Van Diest says destroying the plants was a better option than waiting for quarantined plants to undergo further testing. "I got rid of some of the employees who did this. They're gone. I am pissed, to say the least," she says. "The safety of my patients is everything; hence, why I decided to get rid of everything." The Hemp Center has two medical-only dispensaries, one in Littleton and the other in Colorado Springs.
According to Van Diest, the banned pesticides were applied without her consent or knowledge. A DEH document reporting on a July 28 visit by investigators says the cultivation's manager told DEH agents that a grower who'd applied banned pesticides had been let go.
