46 September 2023
FROM THE EDITOR
� Continued from page 6
Nearly $ 50 Million In Products Recalled
“‘ In the few short days since the issuance of the [ Order of Immediate Suspension ], critical evidence of potential regulatory and criminal behavior has been spoiled ,’ according to the state ’ s Aug . 12 motion . ‘ The security equipment maintaining the video recordings within the facility and that stored the facility ’ s access control information have vanished .’
“ Franklin County law enforcement reported that ‘ a facility representative believed the suspect was possibly an employee attempting to destroy the security system due to an audit the state was conducting ,’ the motion further states .
“ Investigators went to the scene and saw that the burglars mysteriously didn ’ t take the ‘ large volume of marijuana and marijuana products , checks , and drone equipment ’ that was in their path to the security equipment .
“ This , combined with the timing of the burglary , ‘ indicate intentional interference ’ in the department ’ s investigation , the motion states .
“ In Delta ’ s appeal , the company argues the claims are unsubstantiated , and their suspension could lead to them shuttering their business , according to testimony from Rachael ( Herndon ) Dunn , the company ’ s chief operations officer .”
You can read the entire story at missouriindependent . com and view the “ State faces pushback from Missouri marijuana industry over product recall ” headline .
And there ’ s more . On August 16 , Delta Extraction filed two separate cases in Cole County Circuit Court , 19th Judicial Circuit : a Petition for Judicial Review and Request for Declaratory Judgement , and a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order against both DHSS and DCR as reported by https :// mogreenway . com on August 17 . The 18-page petition states ( pages 7 and 8 , section A ) in part , “ DHSS acted unlawfully by placing Delta ’ s products on administrative hold for two reasons . First , under its own regulations , DHSS ’ s power to impose an administrative hold is limited to situations where specific products fail testing or as part ( and as a consequence ) of an order of suspension . Here , none of Delta ’ s products failed testing . Further , when Delta asked the AHC to review DHSS ’ s unlawful Suspension Order , DHSS argued that its Hold Notice is separate from the Suspension Order and outside the scope of the AHC ’ s review . If DHSS is correct about that , then the Hold Notice is unlawful because no regulation gives DHSS discretionary authority to place products on administrative hold , other than as part of a suspension order .
“ Second , even if DHSS had authority to place products on administrative hold separate from its issuance of an order of suspension ( as DHSS seems to claim it did ), its regulations would still require that the hold be based on a credible and imminent threat to public health . DHSS has never identified a basis for concluding that any of Delta ’ s products pose an imminent threat to public health . And DHSS certainly has not explained how all of Delta ’ s products present such a threat .”
This is an ongoing story with more to develop . Meanwhile , the recall of the enormous number of products and losses approaching $ 50 million as a result of all this will certainly have an extremely detrimental impact on Missouri marijuana ’ s small businesses and licensees who , through no fault of their own , are inadvertently punished by a few “ alleged ” bad actors .
As of this issue ’ s press time , the DCR made no further public announcement regarding products removed from retail sales and placed on the recall list . Meanwhile , if you ever visit a dispensary and can ’ t find products you may have purchased previously , ask your budtender for alternatives until the products of choice return to inventory .