Michigan Judge Denies Request to Reverse Decision on Latest Cannabis Recall

A Michigan judge has denied the state Marijuana Regulation Agency’s (MRA) request to reconsider limiting the scope of the cannabis recall of products tested by Viridis Labs saying that the agency failed to prove that an error misled the court to block part of that recall, the Detroit Free Press reports.

The MRA said it had gathered more testing data in the weeks following Court of Claims Judge Christopher Murray’s decision and found that 26% of Viridis North recalled and retested products failed microbial retesting for total yeast and mold, including for aspergillus and/or total bacteria. The agency suggests that some moldy cannabis could have made its way back to store shelves.

Murray, however, ruled that “the evidence upon which the motion is based does not relate to any testing justification existing before the recall decision … and otherwise would not change the court’s balancing of interests.”

Murray had ruled earlier this month to allow products tested by Viridis North to go back on store shelves because all of the randomly selected retested samples – which had a 60% failure rate – came from Viridis Laboratories, which is based in Lansing, and not Viridis North, which is based in Bay City.

In a statement to the Free Press, Viridis Laboratories CEO Greg Michaud argued that the samples that failed MRA testing had cleared the company’s “point-in-time testing” and that the products go through a variety of uncontrolled environments which could cause the contamination which caused the failed retests.

Viridis has indicated that the recall affected about 64,000 pounds of flower worth about $226 million.