rewrite this title and make it good for SEOMichigan marijuana regulators close testing lab run by former cops

A yearslong dispute between Michigan marijuana regulators and a lab run by former police officers accused of widespread wrongdoing ended this week with the lab and its principals permanently barred from the industry.

Viridis, a cannabis testing lab with locations in Bay City and Lansing that was at the center of a massive 2021 recall, has agreed to close by Sept. 28, according to an Aug. 19 consent order with the state Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA).

The order resolves a running fight between the CRA and the lab that began after regulators in November 2021 recalled $292 million worth of cannabis product tested by the lab.

That recall was the culmination of an investigation that began after state cannabis authorities noticed the lab was producing THC potency results much higher than competitors.

It’s also the latest example of state cannabis regulators taking decisive action against a lab accused of wrongdoing amid nationwide allegations of widespread malfeasance at testing labs.

‘Justice’ for Michigan marijuana lab run by former police officials

“This is justice, plain and simple,” CRA Director Brian Hanna said in a statement to MLive.com.

According to Hanna, Viridis engaged in a “sustained, deliberate pattern of noncompliance that shook confidence in the entire regulated cannabis system” that pushed other competing labs of of business.

“Viridis circumvented the rules,” he said. “Their majority owners will never operate in this space again, and the Michigan cannabis industry will be stronger for it.”

According to the consent order, Viridis officials Todd Welch, Gregoire Michaud and Michele Glinn are permanently banned from the Michigan cannabis industry.

Viridis’ license is also permanently revoked.

Welch, who said he spent 25 years in the Michigan State Police in a 2021 interview, was Viridis’ chief operating officer.

Glinn spent 12 years in the Michigan State Police’s toxicology unit, according to Lansing City Pulse.

And Michaud was director of the lab’s forensic science division before he entered the state police and retired as a captain, City Pulse reported.

Viridis spent several years fighting the 2021 recall, eventually convincing a Court of Claims judge to reverse a large portion of it.

Michigan regulators plan to open a reference lab to provide more oversight of lab test results this spring, CRA officials told MLive.