Michigan issues first medical cannabis recall for untested products

Michigan regulators issued the first recall of medical marijuana products since the state’s new licensing and testing system went into place last year.

David Harns, spokesman for Michigan’s MMJ program, said the statewide monitoring system detected five different cannabis-infused tinctures and patches being sold at certain dispensaries that “weren’t connected to any testing result and sent out a red flag.”

While the products hadn’t been tested, they weren’t necessarily unsafe.

Choice Labs, a Jackson, Michigan, company that processed and distributed the untested batches, won’t face any fines or disciplinary action because the state attributed the mistake to a processor input error and lack of proper training in using the new seed-to-sale tracking system.

“We’re still in the educational phase,” Harns said. “We don’t want this to become a habit, but as we work with licensees, our goal is not to be heavy-handed but to make sure they know what they need to do.”

He said the voluntary recall is important because it shows that “we have the ability to make sure the product out there is safe. The fact is that we were able to spot and act quickly to remedy the situation.”

The five different MMJ products were being sold at between nine and 15 dispensaries each.

The recalled products are:

• Mary’s Transdermal Indica Patches
• The Remedy Tincture-Mary’s
• Mary’s Transdermal Patches CBD
• The Coltyn 1:1 Tincture
• Mary’s Transdermal 1:1 Patches

Some of the products already had been sold. Patients or caregivers who purchased the product were advised to return them to the dispensaries for disposal or retesting by Choice Labs.