Colorado marijuana regulators have issued two different recalls over mold and laboratory testing issues, with both affecting dispensaries across the state.
The state Marijuana Enforcement Division simultaneously issued the separate recalls on March 20: one for wholesale flower produced by Carrick-Harvest, LLC, better known as Veritas Fine Cannabis, and another for pre-rolled joints produced by Durango Cannabis Co., a Durango dispensary that also sells wholesale products.
According to the MED’s health and safety notice for Veritas, medical and recreational flower produced from January 1, 2020 to July 27, 2022, and sold at dispensaries from 2020 to March 14 of this year is subject to the recall, which was issued over potentially unsafe mold levels.
The recall followed months of disputed testing, according to the MED. After identifying failed batches of marijuana flower, MED investigators found harvest batches that “underwent a separate decontamination process” compared to their corresponding lab samples, making the tests “unreliable.” As a result, the MED and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment decided to deem batches from Veritas through March 14 as a “potential threat to public health and safety.”
In Colorado, certain marijuana products that fail contaminant testing are allowed to be remediated and retested. If the flagged products pass, they can be sold at dispensaries. However, this process has been cited in a handful of recent recalls, even as the MED’s testing validations have come under scrutiny.
In a statement to Westword, Veritas says that it was unaware of new MED product testing and remediation standards before 2022, and has notified all of its retail vendors to quarantine products harvested before last July.
“At Veritas, we pride ourselves in upholding some of the highest quality standards in the industry to ensure our products are consistently safe,” Veritas notes. “Since we became aware of the MED’s position on the timing of our test samples, our testing procedures have been modified to ensure every batch we grow is dried, trimmed, cured and mitigated prior to being sent for testing and packaging. Carrick Harvest changed this process in accordance with MED guidance beginning on July 26, 2022.
“We have asked our retail partners to quarantine any product that remained on the shelf that was harvested prior to July 26th. As of March 14th, all products on the shelf were harvested after the SOP change. We encourage anyone in possession of an affected product to reach out directly (via this form on our website or send an email to high@veritascannabis.com) to receive a replacement product,” the statement continues.
Veritas says that the remediation and testing processes were corrected on July 26 of last year, but the MED maintains that anything customers purchased before March 14 of this year is subject to the recall. All recreational flower produced by Veritas will come in a Veritas-branded jar and have either the medical cultivation license number 403-01381 or one of two recreational cultivation license numbers — 403R-00063 and 403R-00596 — on the packaging. This is the second recall in just over two years for Veritas, which was included in a MED mold notice in January 2021.
On March 20, the MED also issued a recall for Durango Cannabis Co. that included pre-rolled blunts and joints as well as infused pre-rolls. According to the notice, this recall was done in partnership with Durango Cannabis Co. after potentially unsafe levels of mold and yeast were discovered in the Colorado products and more untested batches were found. The recalled blunts and joints were sold to consumers between October 19, 2022, and February 2, 2023, at approximately thirty stores across the state, the MED notes.
All Durango Cannabis Co. pre-rolls include the company’s cultivation facility license, 403R-00869. Durango Cannabis Co. did not respond to a request for comment.
Both the Veritas and Durango recall notices include the following MED directions: “Consumers who have this affected marijuana in their possession should destroy it or return it to the Regulated Marijuana Store from which it was purchased for proper disposal. Consumers who experience adverse health effects from consuming the marijuana flower should seek medical attention immediately and report the event to the Marijuana Enforcement Division by submitting the MED Reporting Form.”
