A Denver cannabis growing operation has shut down after numerous surveillance and tracking violations.
Zoidland Limited Liability Co., a wholesale cannabis grower doing business as Champion Cannabis, has surrendered its cultivation license to the city, and its ownership cannot apply for another marijuana license in Denver for at least two years.
According to a November 8 agreement between Champion Cannabis, the Denver Department of Excise & Licenses and the Denver City Attorney’s Office, Champion Cannabis admits to nineteen different cannabis business violations.
A city disciplinary order shows that after the Denver Fire Department reported that it had been “repeatedly refused access” inside of Champion Cannabis to conduct an annual fire safety inspection on the property located at 4980 Jackson Street, Excise & Licenses sent an investigator for a compliance check. According to the department, the inspector found an inaccurate floor and camera surveillance plan, retail cannabis containers without tracking tags, and an employee working with expired state certification.
However, the “most concerning violations” were connected to employee reports that the facility had been without power for around thirty days, the inspector noted.
“As a result of this power loss, the respondent did not have adequate lighting in all areas where marijuana was stored, did not have a functioning alarm system, and did not have a functioning video surveillance system,” the September show-cause order reads.
In 2021, Denver City Council adopted tighter surveillance and security rules for cannabis growers at the suggestion of Excise & Licenses. Implemented last January, the rules were enacted to decrease the rate of burglary attempts at dispensaries and cultivations, but grows and dispensaries were slow to comply, according to department investigators. Over the past two years, the city has disciplined multiple businesses for not following storage and tracking rules, and marijuana business owners have been arrested for diverting their own products into the illegal market.
Instead of taking the case to a hearing, Champion Cannabis owner Brandon Taylor and the city agreed to the surrender of its cultivation license with the stipulation that it be treated as a revocation, which bans Taylor and any other owners from applying for a cannabis business license in Denver for two years.
Taylor could not be reached for comment.
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