A Michigan judge lifted a months-long media ban on a Michigan legal dispute regarding a historic cannabis recall in 2021.
The state's cannabis regulatory agency CRA is at the center of the legal battle, accusing Viridis Laboratories of producing inaccurate test results and inflating THC potency data. Viridis denied the allegations and countersued the CRA, accusing the agency of unfair targeting.
The hearings, which followed numerous court filings, audits and formal complaints over the past year and half, were kept secret from the public and media since February, per an order from Judge Stephen B. Goldstein. In the event, Judge Goldstein didn't provide a specific reason for the decision, but he pointed to state law that allows the move if media or public participation disrupts proceedings or to avoid undue disruption. Both the state regulators and Viridis' leadership applauded the move to lift the ban.
Transparency with the public is very important to the CRA and we will continue to honor the judge's orders, Harns said.
Viridis' CEO, Greg Michaud, said in a statement. There should be a full public accounting and transparency around the CRA's actions leading up to the botched recall of 2021 and after. How it all began?
In November 2021, Michigan authorities issued a recall of marijuana products, impacting nearly 70% of the state's on-shelf marijuana products sold at more than 400 stores. The marijuana testing facility at the center of the problem filed a lawsuit against the Marijuana Regulatory Agency.
At the time, MRA reported that it detected inaccurate and or unreliable results of all products - including inhalable concentrate products, such as live resin, distillate or vape carts - tested by Viridis Laboratories between Aug. 10 and Nov. 16. The recall led to an estimated $229 million in industry disruption, according to the lawsuit.
The Cannabis Regulatory Agency had been overseeing the market before Governor Gretchen Whitmer's executive order in 2022, which consolidated the regulation of the processing, distribution and sale of marijuana and hemp into a single state agency: the Cannabis Regulatory Agency.