Michigan licensors on Nov. 15 suspended operations at a Flint shop accused of selling untracked, untested and unlicensed marijuana products.
The Cannabis Regulatory Agency “summarily suspended” the medical provisioning center and recreational retail licenses held by GC FLint, operating under the name Green Culture at 808 S Center Road, Suite 2, in Flint.
The business must close until further notice.
The CRA suspension order said, “a prompt post-suspension hearing must be held to determine whether this suspension should remain in effect.”
A member of the public on Aug. 27 submitted a complaint to the CRA accusing Green Culture of selling caregiver-produced, 3-gram, AFC Labs Moon Rock-branded pre-rolled marijuana joints that weren’t properly tagged with required tracking labels that also include information about safety testing.
“The product label contained the universal symbol for marijuana and QR code that was linked to a website that sells phone jacks,” the suspension order said.
According to the CRA, investigators visited the retailer on Sept. 28 and were told that the improperly labelled pre-rolls were 100% hemp extract, which only contained negligible amounts of THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana, and therefore, didn’t require statewide tracking, testing or labeling.
The CRA identified 1,914 pre-rolled marijuana joints and nearly 8.4 pounds of marijuana flower packaged with branding for AFC Labs, a company that is not licensed to produce marijuana in Michigan.
The following day, CRA investigators returned and identified seven large mason jars and seven small jars in a freezer that contained “caregiver concentrate,” a potent form of marijuana created from the plant material. Company representatives, who are only identified by their initials in public CRA records, agreed to destroy the jars, the suspension order said.
Caregivers, a designation given to individual growers and processors allowed to produce marijuana products for use by medical marijuana patients, were previously allowed to sell their extra product to the licensed market. The CRA ended that allowance in September 2020 and said only marijuana produced by licensed businesses could be commercially sold.
On Sept. 29, inspectors also found at least 26 other items, including numerous edible marijuana products, that weren’t entered into the statewide marijuana tracking system.
On Oct. 4, the CRA said it audited 51 samples of untagged products found at Green Culture. Forty-nine of the products tested positive for marijuana. Two products had less than .3% THC, which classifies them as hemp products.
“As part of the investigation, the CRA reviewed content from (Green Culture’s) point-of-sale system, which revealed that between Feb. 10 and Sept. 30, 2022, (Green Culture) sold or transferred 17,947 ACF Labs products to patients or consumers without full compliance testing, without proper (tracking tags) and labeling and without entering required information in (the statewide tracking system), ” the suspension order said.
The CRA said ACF Labs is a brand name used by Bee Pure Health, a hemp processing business in Flint. It is not licensed to produce or sell marijuana products.
Green Culture has operated as a marijuana retailer in Flint since at least 2015.
The CRA suspension said the date and time for a review hearing is forthcoming. MLive left messages with Green Culture requesting comment and hasn’t received a response.
The CRA, under the new leadership of Acting Director Brian Hanna, has indicated it intends to increase efforts to eliminate black-market or unlicensed marijuana in the commercial industry.
CRA suspension order:
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