Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency took the rare step of suspending four cannabis licenses in February after those license holders failed to follow through on settlements they reached with the state for prior violations.
Every month, the CRA typically makes at least a couple dozen disciplinary actions against cannabis operators for a variety of offenses. Most of the time, those violations result in a fine, often with additional requirements for filings to show that the violations have been addressed. In some cases, the operator may willingly surrender their license. But in some instances, the CRA has taken additional measures to suspend licenses.
In just the second month of this year, the CRA suspended as many licenses as it did in the entire second half of 2023.
Northern Lights Supply LLC of Kalkaska, Mich.,, which was licensed to grow up to 500 plants for the medical market, failed to pay a $10,000 fine. The CRA originally cited Northern Lights for improperly disposing of cannabis waste in February 2022.
CRA investigators visited Northern Lights’ facility in November 2020 and found garbage bags full of cannabis plant and product waste in an unsecured area outside of the facility. Northern Lights didn’t properly render the plant unusable and incorporate it into compost.
The company also failed to file a current annual financial statement within 90 days of their settlement, according to a CRA spokesperson.
The spokesperson provided some additional details about the suspensions but did not comment further about them.
Evergreen Wellness Group, a Detroit-based medical cannabis dispensary, got into hot water in July 2022 when CRA investigators discovered a blue duffel bag in an unsecured electrical closet at the facility that contained about nine pounds of bagged cannabis that had no tracking tags. The closet lacked a surveillance camera, and the operators were unable to show where the cannabis came from on their manifests or invoices.
At the time the complaint was formally filed, Evergreen Wellness declined to contest it and submitted an updated annual financial statement. But the company failed to pay the $10,000 on time, resulting in suspension.
HCM Provisioning Inc., which operates a medical dispensary in Mount Morris, Mich., failed to submit annual financial statements for 2020 and 2021, according to the CRA. The company failed to pay the subsequent $10,000 fine and didn’t file any of its annual financial statements, hence the suspension.
Windgate Transportation Inc., which operated as OnTheGoMichigan, was a Warren-based transportation service that ferried cannabis between licensed operators, whether it was for wholesale transactions or lab testing. The company failed to file annual financial statements for 2020 and 2021. Eventually, the state filed a complaint against the company in 2022, which agreed to settle with the CRA. The settlement included a requirement that the company pay a $10,000 fine and file an updated financial statement within 90 days. The company did neither, according to the CRA.
None of the four operators responded to requests for comment. With the exclusion of Evergreen Wellness, all of the suspensions were directed at companies that had already ceased operations, according to the CRA’s disciplinary action database.
