The Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) has issued a product recall for a range of marijuana products, having identified inaccurate and/or unreliable results of products tested by laboratories Viridis North, LLC and Viridis Laboratories, LLC.
The announcement reads in part, “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, and any other cannabis concentrate created through residual solvent extractions.”
The recall will likely represent the largest marijuana recall in the state ever, since the commercial market for cannabis opened in December 2019. The concern to consumers of these products is a risk of health-related incidents such as aspergillosis, which can impact lung function, if these potentially harmful products are consumed.
Retailers Navigating the Fallout
The development reflects a large issue for many in the marijuana retail business, as owners and operators work to understand their options. A significant issue raised is whether retailers should be permitted to get untested (but already licensed) product currently being held by Viridis to be transferred to another safety compliance facility for retesting. Legally, it appears to be a viable option that the MRA would endorse, but Viridis would have to voluntarily comply with a retailer’s request to release that product to another facility.
MRA issued a statement that, "If Viridis is willing to provide the current samples they have of licensees' product to other labs to complete the necessary testing, the MRA would not have an issue with that. However, it is a business decision of the laboratory to release their inventory, the MRA cannot require that the samples be released."
The MRA also provided the following guidance for retailers and licensees:
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:
- Destroy the product and provide proof of destruction: MRA-Compliance@michigan.gov.
- 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.
Have Questions?
If you as a retailer or licensee have any questions about your legal options relative to this recall, please contact Rob Huth to discuss how we can help you navigate these issues. The MRA was clear to point out that “an MRA investigation is still ongoing,” so things are likely to change and develop as time goes on.
We will continue to follow this matter and will update you as appropriate and relevant.
