In an unusual legal settlement, a Colorado company has issued a video statement about its role in issuing preliminary test results involving hemp-based oils produced by Medical Marijuana Inc.’s subsidiary HempMeds.
David Stewart, president of Stewart Environmental, says in the statement that he was “pressured” into giving the initial results to a dispensary owner who requested the tests. The statement – included in a video posted on Youtube Monday morning – is part of a settlement tied to a $100 million lawsuit Medical Marijuana Inc. filed against Stewart Environmental and several other parties.
Another defendant in the case – dispensary owner Jason Cranford – has also settled and will issue a video apology, according to Andrew Hard, a spokesman for Medical Marijuana Inc.
The preliminary results of tests performed by Stewart Environmental showed that the HempMeds product Real Scientific Hemp Oil (RSHO) contained “significant levels” of heavy metals. The lab passed those early results on to Cranford, who then allegedly handed them off to a CBD-focused website that eventually used them in a damning report calling into question the safety of HempMeds products.
The initial results proved inaccurate, however. The final results – given to Cranford a day after he received the preliminary data – showed the amount of heavy metals was either “undetectable or at very low concentrations” in the sample, Stewart said.
“Anyone reading a report by Stewart Environmental that RSHO contained heavy metals should know this report was preliminary, and that a corrected, accurate report was issued,” Steward said in the video.
The video statements were Medical Marijuana Inc.’s idea, Hard said. Stewart told Marijuana Business Daily the video was something the companies had agreed upon.
Other parties in the case, including Project CBD and CannLabs, have not reached a settlement at this time.
