Marijuana Product Safety Issues Continue To Pile Up In Michigan: Regulators Halt Hemp-To-THC Conversion Plan

Michigan regulators are no longer pursuing previously announced plans to allow hemp to be synthetically converted to THC, the principal psychoactive constituent of the cannabis plant.

The Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) opted to withdraw the request for rulemaking on Friday, reported MLive.

"After receiving a significant amount of public comment regarding safety concerns and the lack of scientific and public health data related to the conversion process outlined in the proposed industrial hemp rules ... the Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) has withdrawn this request for rulemaking," the agency announced last week.

The move comes on the heels of the renaming of the licensing body from the Marijuana Regulatory Agency – by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's February 11 executive order - and assuming authority over hemp-derived products.

The oversight of processing, distribution, licensing, safety compliance and sales of hemp were previously regulated by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), which will retain oversight of hemp farming.

The draft rules proposed by the MRA in January would have allowed hemp growers to sell to cannabis processors, who could then convert it to THC for edibles, vaping cartridges, tinctures or other products already being sold in the licensed marijuana market.

For now, licensed businesses are permitted to extract THC oil from marijuana. Moreover, allowing hemp plants to be converted into oils that produce nearly the same effects could put existing producers out of business, said cannabis attorney Denise Policella, who assisted in founding the Cannabis Business Association of Michigan, which fought against the hemp conversion rules.

"The industrial hemp portion of this was never going to come from Michigan," Policella said. "Michigan can't compete with Kentucky and North Carolina on hemp. They've got a year-round growing season that we don't have. They have 100,000-acre hemp farms that we don't have in Michigan."

THC Gummies Put On Hold

In the meantime, the state licensing agency put a hold on THC-infused gummies sold by Freddie's Joint, a marijuana shop in Clio, the news outlet reported.

Policella, who also represents Sky Labs in Mount Morris which specializes in making edibles and from which the products in question came, said that a hold was placed on all of the business's products, worth over $5 million, without any explanation on Thursday, April 14.

"At 4 p.m., they received a call from a client, and literally all of their product started going on administrative hold," the attorney said. The CRA "said it's related to an investigation. It does not appear to be a public health or safety matter, but I'm speculating because they didn't issue a recall."

However, Policella added that the products all seem to originate from the same licensed marijuana grower and includes product that's passed testing and is already distributed to retailers across Michigan.

Nevertheless, Cannabis Regulators Agency (CRA) spokesman David Harns said recently in a phone conversation that he cannot "acknowledge or confirm an investigation" is underway.

While Troy Boquette, the general manager of Freddie's Joint store, doesn't know why the cannabis products are on hold, CRA's move has theoretically prohibited transfer and sales.

Boquette said that samples of the on-hold products are already tested samples for the presence of solvents by licensed safety labs. "It had to have passed state testing to have made it to us," he added.

Michigan's Moldy Marijuana Recall Debacle

While yet another saga over product safety seems to be heating up, the historic product recall is still shaking the industry.

After Michigan's regulators issued a broad recall of cannabis products tested by Viridis Laboratories in November, a judge affirmed regulators were wrong, although they acted within the scope of the law.

Judge Thomas Cameron ruled that the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency's (MRA) recall was "arbitrary and without basis" and could be equivalent to a "substantive due process violation."

The initial recall included all products tested by Viridis Laboratories and Viridis North between August 10 and November 16, impacting products sold at more than 400 stores across the Wolverine State.

According to the lawsuit filed by Viridis, the recall resulted in an estimated $229 million disruption in the industry, CBS News reported at the time.

Photo: Courtesy of Benzinga