Audit finds problems with Minnesota’s medical marijuana program

The two vertically integrated medical marijuana companies that serve the entire MMJ market in Minnesota lack formal contracts with a testing laboratory as well as other issues, according to a report from the state’s Office of the Legislative Auditor.

According to Minneapolis TV station WCCO, an audit of the Minnesota Department of Health, which oversees the state’s medical marijuana program, found that its “internal controls were generally not adequate to safeguard financial assets and ensure compliance with selected legal requirements for the medical cannabis program.”

Minnesota Medical Solutions, which is owned by Minneapolis-based multistate operator Vireo Health and LeafLine Labs, are responsible for all the cultivation, production and distribution of medical cannabis in the state.

The health department’s shortcomings, according to the audit, included:

• Failure to ensure that Minnesota Medical Solutions and LeafLine Labs had a formal contract with a testing laboratory.
• Inadequate controls to ensure the two companies accurately tracked and tested medical marijuana before sale.
• Lack of controls to help prevent and detect diversion or loss of medical marijuana by the two companies.

As of the end of 2019, 18,249 people were enrolled in the state’s medical marijuana program. That’s a 27% increase over the 14,398 enrollees as of Dec. 27, 2018.