A former top California marijuana official is claiming in a lawsuit filed this week that she was fired after superiors brushed off concerns about widespread problems, including fraud, at state-licensed cannabis testing labs.
Tanisha Bogans, the former deputy director of laboratory services at the California Department of Cannabis Control, alleges she was fired after sharing reports of rampant THC potency inflation and labs’ deliberate failures to detect pesticides and mold, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Bloomberg Law first reported Bogans’ lawsuit, which claims unlawful retaliation and violations of whistleblower protections as well as unpaid business expenses.
The suit claims that regulators’ “resistance” to address lab fraud has damaged the marijuana industry.
“DCC’s inaction is an (endorsement) for unethical and illegal business practices within the industry at large,” Bogans’ suit says.
A spokesperson for the DCC told MJBizDaily that the agency does not comment on litigation or “personnel matters.”
Familiar lab fraud allegations
Bogans’ claims echo allegations made by testing labs and other marijuana operators who contend regulators aren’t policing labs manipulate tests to produce artificially high THC percentages and clear cannabis for sale that should be failed for pesticides or mold in order to win over customers.
In California, regulators this year have taken a more aggressive tack, revoking or suspending the permits of labs alleged to have engaged in such conduct.
However, that all came after Bogans, who started overseeing the DCC’s lab division in December 2022, was fired in January of this year, her suit claims.
Fired after blowing whistle
According to Bogans’ suit, top California marijuana officials – including DCC Director Nicole Elliott – started receiving detailed allegations of fraud from state-licensed labs in June 2023.
Bogans received similar reports but “faced hostility and accusations” when she shared them, according to the suit.
Between October 2023 and January 2024, Bogans received more complaints of pesticide-tainted product sold through regulated retailers as well as possible fentanyl contamination, the lawsuit claims.
After “repeatedly raising the issue” within DCC and finally elevating the matter to other state agencies, including law enforcement, Bogans was fired on Jan. 12, 2024, the lawsuit claims.
Bogans, who worked remotely in Southern California but traveled often throughout the state, also claims in her lawsuit she was not compensated for business expenses.
