Leicester-based marijuana firm Cultivate Holdings, which was one of the first to open a recreational marijuana store in Massachusetts, has been fined $75,000 by state Cannabis Control Commission for selling a host of improperly labeled marijuana products to consumers.
This, in fact, marks the first time the state Cannabis Control Commission has fined a pot company.
It was during an unannounced inspection on January 30 that the commission officials found that Cultivate Holdings didn’t update the labels on nearly 3,000 pot products it transferred from its medical marijuana operation into Massachusetts’ “seed-to-sale” inventory tracking system for adult-use products.
According to the state’s recreational marijuana rules, all pot companies are required to mention the following things on their products:
- Warnings that they contain THC, the psychoactive compound that gives users a ‘high’
- A warning reminding people that the product isn’t safe for children
- The serving size
- An identification number pointing to the batch of marijuana it was made from
The Commission told the local media that the company had sold nearly 900 products missing the required information before the officials got to know of the problem and charged the company with a cease-and-desist order in February.
Reportedly, on Thursday, at a commission meeting, Cultivate Holdings quarantined the products and agreed to pay a fine of $75,000 so as to avoid the suspension of its license.
“Our goal is to fix the situation and ensure it will not happen again,” Steve Hoffman, the commission chairman, told reporters after the meeting. “I believe the negotiated settlement is a really efficient method of getting there. I am convinced that they (marijuana companies) understand the mistakes they’ve made and the violations that occurred — and that they mustn’t be repeated; we’ll not tolerate them happening again.”
The Chairman further vowed that the commission would keep on conducting such unannounced inspections every now and then at all licensed marijuana facilities.
Commissioner Jennifer Flanagan hopes that this incident “will send a message to other companies that we’re not going to tolerate things that aren’t labeled as per the state’s guidelines.”
