Michigan Regulators Suspend Cannabis Licensee, Issue Product Alert

A medical and adult-use cannabis dispensary in Flint, Mich., was shut down by state regulators Nov. 15 for allegedly selling untagged products with unacceptable levels of a banned pesticide, heavy metal, mold and/or bacteria.

Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) officials issued formal complaints and summarily suspended the medical and adult-use licenses for GC Flint LLC, which does business as Green Culture. A “prompt post-suspension hearing” must be held to determine whether the suspensions should remain in effect, according to CRA.

In addition, CRA officials issued a health and safety bulletin Nov. 15 to alert consumers to the allegedly unregulated and contaminated cannabis products sold by Green Culture between Feb. 10 and Sept. 30, including prerolls labeled as “MoonRock blunt” that did not have identifying Metrc (statewide seed-to-sale tracking system) tags.

“This conduct is a risk to public health and safety and is completely unacceptable,” CRA Acting Executive Director Brian Hanna said in a news release. “Today we issued a suspension of their licenses, and it is my intention to pursue revocation of these licenses. Other marijuana licensees should take note—we will not stop investigating until we clear the regulated market of this type of activity.”

The disciplinary action comes after CRA officials received an Aug. 27 complaint alleging Green Culture sold caregiver product that did not have test results or Metrc tagging.

During a Sept. 28 visit, the Green Culture team told CRA investigators that the MoonRock preroll products in question were 100% hemp-extracted CBD containing less than 0.3% THC, according to the CRA release. Investigators also observed packages of flower and “several other” ACF Labs products without Metrc tags on the sales floor during the visit, according to CRA.

The day after the visit, investigators conducted an audit of all untested product reported in Metrc to be at the Green Culture’s dispensary in Flint and allegedly found that roughly 58 pounds of caregiver product entered into Metrc could not be located at the business facility.

During a subsequent CRA visit on Oct. 3, the Green Culture team “admitted to obtaining product from ACF Labs and that the ACF Labs untagged product was marijuana,” the release states. ACF Labs is the “assumed name” of Bee Pure Health, which is a state-licensed hemp processor that does not hold a cannabis license, according to CRA.

As a result of the investigation, CRA officials determined Green Culture allegedly sold or transferred roughly 18,000 ACF Labs products to patients or consumers without full compliance testing and without Metrc tags and labeling, according to the release.

During CRA’s Oct. 4 on-site investigation, 51 product samples were collected for testing. Of those, 49 were confirmed to be cannabis (the other two were hemp) and more than three-quarters of the products contained paclobutrazol (a banned pesticide), nickel (a heavy metal), aspergillus (a type of mold), and/or total coliforms (bacteria) in amounts exceeding state limits, according to CRA.

“[The] Respondent’s actions demonstrate a violation of state law and the administrative rules, and the safety or health of patrons or employees is jeopardized by Respondent’s continued operation, and that the public health, safety, or welfare requires emergency action,” the CRA release states.

Green Culture has the right to request a hearing and/or a compliance conference regarding its license suspensions and formal complaints.