Pennsylvania Revokes Medical Cannabis Producer License

Pennsylvania has revoked the cultivation license of medical cannabis producer Agrimed Industries after regulators said they failed to produce any products for the program two years after receiving its license, the Philadelphia Enquirer reports. Earlier this month following a surprise inspection, the agency found “a flagrant disregard” for the state’s regulations, “grossly mismanaged” crops, and alleged that some of the company’s plants may have been diverted to the illicit market.

According to regulators, Agrimed was unable to produce records about allegedly destroyed plants and could not produce footage of plants being destroyed “because the security cameras were frequently nonfunctional.”

The company was granted its cultivation license in June 2017 and was one of the highest scorers in the state’s application process. However, since then a labor dispute has prevented the construction of the company’s facility and its former chief executive was found to have lied on the company’s application about a prior arrest.

The company recently entered into a management service agreement with Arizona-based Harvest Inc. to run its grow facility in Greene County.

Following the launch of medical cannabis sales last year, dispensaries quickly ran out of products and just 12 companies were initially approved to grow cannabis for the program. Agrimed was approved for a license in the Southwest Region. Companies approved in 2017 were ordered to begin cultivating crops within six months. In April, the state announced that patient counts had reached 102,000.

Agrimed has 30 days to appeal the department’s decision.