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After almost two months of silence, 605 Cannabis has released a statement in regard to the voluntary product recall issued by the South Dakota Medical Cannabis Program for some 605 Cannabis, aka Badlands products.
In the original recall notice (linked here), The South Dakota Medical Cannabis Program (SDMCP) stated: “We have alleged that a failure to test products, mislabeling, contamination, the lack of inventory tracking and the failure to have licenses for edible products pose a risk to the health and safety of the products sold by Badlands.”
Unfortunately, 605 Cannabis has chosen not to address any of the complaints alleged against them in their statement, rather they’ve chosen to announce their lawsuit against the South Dakota Department of Health in Lincoln County Circuit Court, Case No. 41CIV23-214. According to Dakota News, 605 has filed a lawsuit against the state for $1.3 Million.
In the notice, 605 Cannabis alleges “the Department has violated proper rulemaking procedures in contravention of the Administrative Procedures Act by attempting to enforce un-promulgated rules on 605.” In layman’s terms, 605 is basically saying that they didn’t know the rules because the DOH hadn’t made them public.
Laws governing cultivation and manufacturing are linked at bottom of page.
Keloland obtained the 49-page complaint filed by 605 against the DOH and in it, 605 refutes the following nine violations listed by the DOH. Linked to each finding is its corresponding law. 605 does offer an explanation of each of the nine violations, you can view them on Keloland’s Website.
(Finding 1) The failure to test cannabis intended for consumption prior to transfer for retail sale;
(Finding 2) The addition of Delta-8 and terpenes to cannabis sold – Though a shady business practice, currently, there is no law in place that excludes anyone from adding these to the product. However, by not telling your customers that the product is not pure THC, could be considered a crime.
(Finding 4) The failure to remediate a non-useable batch of cannabis, failure to follow operating procedures, and failure to have functioning security cameras;
(Finding 5) The addition of improper additives to cannabis;
(Finding 7) The material noncompliance with inventory recordkeeping for transfer, testing, and transaction records;
(Finding 11) The failure to secure facility with permanently fixed security cameras;
(Finding 12) The failure to provide computer access to cameras or to verify the recording ability of the camera system;
(Finding 20) The failure to provide pesticide application certification for agents applying pesticides; and
(Finding 21) The failure to provide food service establishment license for manufacturing edible cannabis.
1 ) How is it possible that Badlands was producing the amount of product that they were with the amount of available Cannabis in the state at that time?
2 ) Why include Delta-8 in the first place?
3 ) Was Delta-8 being used as a “filler” due to the lack of Cannabis in the state? Or was it being used to defraud dispensaries and patients by insinuating that the products were Delta-9 (THC) only products?
4 ) Does Badlands/605 plan on refunding the dispensaries for the recalled product? If not, why wouldn’t 605 be held liable to cover the cost? If so, when and why haven’t we heard anything about it yet?
5 ) Why the secrecy and lack of transparency? As industry advocates, shouldn’t 605 be setting an example for how Cultivators and Manufacturers should behave and handle themselves in this situation?
6 ) Should any one person be allowed to be an Establishment Owner, on the Oversight Committee, and on the CIASD Board at the same time?
44:90:05:01 Cultivation activities — Compliance with operating procedures.
44:90:05:02 Packaging and labeling cannabis for retail sale.
44:90:05:03 Cultivation equipment— Safety.
44:90:05:04 Cultivation area.
44:90:05:05 Hours of operation — Exigent circumstances.
44:90:05:06 Fences and gates.
44:90:05:07 Safe application of pesticides and other chemicals used in cultivation — Training requirements.
44:90:05:08 Application of pesticides.
44:90:05:09 List of approved active ingredients in pesticides.
44:90:05:10 Safety of Cannabis — Use or presence of prohibited pesticides — Contaminants.
44:90:07:01 Manufacturing practices.
44:90:07:02 Work environment.
44:90:07:03 Cannabis product nonusable.
44:90:07:04 Prohibited manufacturing activities.
44:90:07:05 Extraction — Approved operating procedures.
44:90:07:06 Generally safe concentration methods.
44:90:07:07 Potentially hazardous extraction methods.
44:90:07:08 Extraction using inherently hazardous substances.
44:90:07:09 Edible cannabis products.