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New Mexico Cannabis Control Division Lifts Cease and Desist Order from Producer Involved in Medical Cannabis Recall
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CDC) has lifted a cease and desist order from a producer that was involved in a medical cannabis recall last month.
Regulators allowed Santa Fe-based Sacred Garden to resume operations April 27, after the operator remedied or initiated plans to remedy violations previously cited by the CDC, according to NM Political Report.
The CDC issued the cease and desist order and a product recall March 24, after investigating patient complaints about mold found on Sacred Garden’s products.
RELATED: New Mexico Issues Recall of Medical Cannabis Products from Sacred Garden
The investigation uncovered conditions at Sacred Garden’s that regulators said would pose a risk to the public, according to NM Political Report.
Sacred Garden filed a request for an injunction days after the CDC issued the cease and desist order to block it, the news outlet reported. A state district judge initially ordered regulators to allow Sacred Garden to sell manufactured products, such as edibles, until its facility was deemed safe to fully reopen, and criticized the CDC in a subsequent hearing for not outlining clear steps for the company to remedy its violations.
Ultimately, the judge gave the CDC roughly a week to establish and complete a testing regime, and six of the 13 samples from Sacred Garden that were tested showed high levels of yeast and mold, according to NM Political Report.
The lab results revealed that some of Sacred Garden’s cultivars had tens of thousands of colony forming units of yeast and mold per gram, according to the news outlet, while others showed levels as low as 45 colony forming units of yeast and mold per gram.
The cannabis testing standards approved and adopted by the CDC mandate that all cannabis flower is tested for aspergillus, a type of fungus that can produce mycotoxins, but there are no testing regulations regarding general mold and yeast. Aspergillus levels must test below 100 colony-forming units for cannabis products to hit dispensary shelves, according to NM Political Report.