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A Denver district court judge has dismissed a marijuana cultivator’s lawsuit requesting that she force Colorado to overhaul its cannabis testing rules.
In a ruling issued on Thursday, District Court Judge Jill Dorancy found that the lawsuit from the cultivator, Mammoth Farms, “attempts to circumvent the process put in place” to implement regulations “prior to judicial review.”
Saguache-based Mammoth Farms had claimed in the lawsuit that Colorado regulators had allowed bad actors to sell hemp-derived THC in retail marijuana shops, imperiling consumers. Cannabis consumers are at risk, the lawsuit claimed, because highly toxic chemicals are used in the banned process that converts hemp into THC products.
Dorancy concluded that, before bringing the suit, Mammoth Farms should have formally petitioned the state for specific rulemaking around expanded testing.
The state’s lawyers had argued that point but also had claimed that the case violated the doctrine of separation of powers, which constrains the judiciary from interfering with the functions of the executive or legislative branches of government.
Dorancy, however, ruled there is not an absolute rule against such judicial intervention, holding that there are instances when judges may have to intervene.
“This simply means that while courts must be cautious not to overstep their bounds and interfere with the executive branch’s discretion, they can compel the agencies to fulfill their explicit statutory obligations without violating the separation of powers doctrine,” Dorancy stated in her ruling.
Justin Trouard, the owner of Mammoth Farms, said he would appeal the ruling dismissing his lawsuit.
Trouard had testified that cheap hemp-derived THC products often are mislabeled and illegally sold in marijuana retail shops in Colorado. He said rogue actors in the marijuana industry swap out high-quality marijuana products because it is much cheaper to produce THC products derived from hemp.
The switch also facilities illegal trafficking of high-grade marijuana from Colorado to black markets in states where illegal marijuana is grown, he further claimed, adding that the infiltration of hemp products into Colorado’s retail shops has threatened to put cultivators like himself out of business.
In an industry bulletin, officials with the state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division stated that its regulators will act when they find instances of chemically derived THC that comes from hemp.
“MED investigations led to enforcement action against manufacturers when evidence found they were engaging in the conversion of hemp into THC in violation of the law and rules,” the industry bulletin states. “Other investigations are ongoing.”
Trouard testified that the illegal conversion of hemp into THC products for sell in marijuana shops in Colorado is widespread. He also argued that state regulators have not sufficiently cracked down on the practice.
The Marijuana Enforcement Division earlier this month announced plans for an off-the-shelf testing program that would test samples of products that are sold in marijuana shops in the state.
”}]] A Denver district court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a marijuana cultivator, Mammoth Farms, requesting that Colorado overhaul its cannabis testing rules. The judge ruled that before the Read More
