Cannabis regulators warn against potentially unsafe marijuana from two companies
Photo | Nathan Fiske
Cannabis regulators are sounding the alarm over potentially-contaminated cannabis.
Days after a prominent cannabis testing laboratory filed a lawsuit against its competitors over allegations of fraud, Massachusetts cannabis regulators have sounded the alarm over potentially harmful products sold by two marijuana companies, who are both pushing back against the need for the notice and the state’s haphazard testing system.
The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission issued a bulletin on Monday warning consumers some products failed follow-up testing and may be contaminated with yeast and mold. CCC issued two notices with names of the strains and a list of the dispensaries that sold them, but regulators took the unusual step of not identifying the businesses that produced the products in question, denying consumers and medical patients with a piece of information which could be helpful in identifying whether or not they have purchased or consumed one of the products.
“This is like a weird halfway, and just makes it look like they don't know what they're doing,” Jeff Rawson, an advocate for cannabis testing reform and president of the Cambridge-based Institute of Cannabis Science. “For the sake of the market, retailers are going to have to get better quality assurance, and the regulators can definitely encourage that by posting proper recall notices.”
WBJ was able to identify the companies in question: Holistic Industries, a Maryland-based cannabis company with a cultivation in Monson, and The Heirloom Collective, a firm with a cultivation based in Bernardston. Holistic has previously received disciplinary action from CCC for mold-related violations at its facility.
Both companies have questioned whether the notice was appropriate and taken issue with CCC’s regulation of cannabis testing.
“Consumer safety and product quality are our top priorities - so much so that we only sell organic flower that is not irradiated, unlike many other operators in the Commonwealth,” said Kyle Crossley, general counsel for Holistic Industries, referencing some operators who use radiation to kill yeast and mold in products. “Although all recalled product previously passed the CCC-mandated testing before being sold and, as the CCC notice said, there have been zero reports of any consumer health issues, we are honoring the product recall.”
In a written statement to WBJ, Heirloom President and CEO Jason Newell pushed back against CCC’s decision to release the bulletin.
“We have been producing quality cannabis products in Massachusetts for the past five years. Everything we produce is tested at an independent testing laboratory (ITL) before it goes to market per the Cannabis Control Commission’s regulations,” Newell wrote. “These ITL's are solely regulated by the CCC, and we have to trust the test results delivered by the ITL's. The products in question were tested at an IT, and passed all regulatory limits set by the CCC. We have the ITL's certificate of analysis to prove it. We are working with the CCC to try to better understand and address the issues that landed all parties at this juncture. We take the health and safety of our patients, consumers, customers, and families seriously, and would never knowingly sell any product that was not perfectly safe.”
CCC’s notice identified the product name, strain name, product batch number, and retail locations where the potentially contaminated products were sold. In an email to WBJ, CCC spokesperson Neal McNamara said regulators didn’t disclose the cultivators’ names due to an open investigation.
WBJ was able to identify the two companies through alternative means; Holistic Industries is the sole producer of one of the brands listed, while Heirloom was identified through the assistance of a Central Massachusetts cannabis company, which used its access to a third-party data portal featuring state seed-to-sale tracking data to confirm the company is behind the products. WBJ is not naming that Central Mass. cannabis company due to fear of retribution.
Bulletins outlining the specifics of potential issues with Holistic and Heirloom's products identified the retailers where the products have been sold, including several dispensaries in Central Massachusetts.
In a three-page statement to WBJ, Holistic defended its cultivation methods and took issue with CCC’s testing regulations and enforcement.
Crossley said an unannounced inspection in October found no mold at its Monson cultivation facility. The firm’s statement noted some labs use qPCR microbiology testing while others use a plate count method for determining mold and yeast levels in a product, which could explain disparities between one testing result and another when performed at different labs.
“While Holistic is open to scientific debate on the most accurate lab testing procedures, we implore the CCC to formalize and publicize the discussion and enact clear rules that operators can rely on,” Crossley said.
Products produced by Holistic Industries outlined in the bulletin include those which are part of the Garcia Hand Picked, a brand of cannabis products promoted by the family of Jerry Garcia, the famous musician and member of The Grateful Dead who passed away in 1995.
The bulletin stated the products passed initial testing, but failed additional compliance testing ordered by the agency. CCC says consumers and medical marijuana patients should check to see if any of the affected products are currently in their possession and destroy or return any listed products they find.
The bulletin listed 12 products derived from four different cannabis strains produced by Holistic, and four products derived from two cannabis strains produced by Heirloom. The products produced by Holistic were sold between May 31 and Jan. 23, while the products produced by Heirloom were sold between Sept. 18 and Jan. 30.
All the products were cannabis flower, which is typically smoked or vaporized by consumers.
Cannabis retailers, especially those who do not have their own product manufacturing licensing, typically receive cannabis products from cultivators which have already been packaged, making detection of mold or other product issues difficult even if such problems were visibly apparent.
Garcia Hand Picked is available in a number of states with legal cannabis and is produced by companies other than Holistic in other markets. The Garcia brand was initially launched in California back in 2020, with the brand making its debut in Massachusetts in 2021.
“We found a partner in Holistic Industries, after years of searching, who shares our values and priorities, is able to make a national brand and continues to deliver on their promise of authenticity in every aspect of the Garcia Hand Picked brand,” reads a 2021 press release on JerryGarcia.com announcing the brand’s Massachusetts products.
Criticizing the CCC’s bulletin, Rawson from the Institute of Cannabis Sciences, said the notice was a step in the right direction, but it should have included the names of the companies which grew the product.
Rawson said CCC’s move was not a proper recall, pointing to California, where the state’s cannabis regulators provide pictures of the products and specifically name the companies responsible for producing them in a dedicated section on its website.
While this is the first time the agency has issued a bulletin regarding potentially contaminated products, product safety has been an ongoing issue in the Massachusetts cannabis industry.
Holistic Industries was subject of a CCC investigation into mold issues at its Monson facility, resulting in an April agreement between the agency and the company, which saw Holistic agree to pay $200,000 after having been found to be in violation of four regulations involving product safety.
The agreement said Holistic had mold issues at its facility from November 2020 until May 2022 but said CCC had verified in May of that year the facility mold remediation plan had been fully implemented.
MCR Labs, a Framingham-based testing laboratory, filed a lawsuit on Thursday alleging eight of its competitors of manipulating testing results, a move it says is causing harm to both consumers and MCR’s business.
A WBJ investigation into a wide range of issues at the state’s cannabis agency found that Julie Johnson, CCC’s chief of research, struggled to gain access to testing data from the agency. Johnson said that when she was eventually able to obtain testing data from the agency, it showed a large amount of samples fell just below the state’s threshold for contaminants, something she said was a near statistical impossibility.
In October, an investigation from the Wall Street Journal found from April 2021 through 2023, labs in Massachusetts that failed fewer tests than other labs in the previous year tested a median of 84% more samples during the following 12 months, suggesting growers were seeking out labs likely to approve products.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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