Former California cannabis regulator files suit against ex-bosses for alleged whistleblower retaliation. | How to order weed online

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A former employee of the main cannabis regulator of California, who was responsible for overseeing testing laboratories, filed a lawsuit in state court against her ex-employer on Monday. She alleged that she was wrongfully terminated after pressing for action following reports of serious business violation.

Tanisha Bogans filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against the Department of Cannabis Control. She claims that Director Nicole Elliott fired Bogans after she raised concerns about the possibility of multiple testing laboratories falsifying and covering up product contaminants. The lawsuit was reported first by Bloomberg Law.

Bogans was hired in December 2022 to be the deputy director of laboratory services. He was responsible for ensuring that cannabis testing laboratories were compliant with all state rules.

In her new lawsuit, Bogans claims that she was fired from her job after less than one year and a quarter. She says this is because Elliott and Chief Assistant Director Rasha Salma did not want to deal “with regulatory issues rampant in the California cannabis industry,” including reports about testing labs inflating THC levels to satisfy marijuana brands’ clients.

Bogans claims that problems began to arise just a few short months after she joined the DCC. In June 2023, Elliott received an email from U.S. Cannabis Laboratories claiming that California had a systemic problem with labs faking product THC content to curry favor with brands. Higher THC numbers Can command higher prices and customer loyalty.

Bogans’ lawsuit claims that “this laboratory had independently retested the products available on the shelves and discovered that potency was inflated beyond the acceptable margin set by the DCC.” Bogans did not learn about the email until “months later.”

Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs contacted the DCC in July of last year over similar concerns. They claimed that the DCC’s inaction was “causing laboratories cheating in order to get business from growers who want higher potency to appear on their packaged products.”

In October, Bogans claimed in her lawsuit, the issue began to explode. In October, the California Cannabis Industry Association also sent a formal appeal to the DCC, highlighting the same problem of potency inflation as a systemic problem that was undermining integrity of the legal marijuana market. In October, Pacific Star Labs sent a letter claiming that widespread lies regarding product potency had “driven ethical laboratories out of market.” Another lab, Anresco contacted Bogans in the same month to report “finding Category 1 pesticides in a product bought from the shelf” at a legal dispensary.

Bogans’ lawsuit claimed that Elliott, the director of DCC, was hostile and accusatory towards her when she tried to collaborate with other divisions in the DCC on this issue.

Despite the conflicts, Bogans was given top marks in November for his performance evaluation.

Bogans stated in the lawsuit that the problems in the cannabis industry and reports of bad behaviour kept growing. She received more reports from November about pesticides, and even fentanyl, being found in legal marijuana products for sale.

Bogans, desperate, contacted the U.S. Department of Justice with some of the tips that she had received. But when she told Elliott and Salama about her contact with the DOJ, they “severely reproached” her, and her superiors started excluding her “from key meetings in which otherwise she would have participated.”

According to the lawsuit, the problems extended to a distributor whose principal was a elected official.

In December of last year, a Bogans whistleblower revealed that Gold Mountain Distribution, whose owners include La Puente City Councilman David Argudo who’s had previous experience with drug trafficking, was owned by David Argudo. Legal cannabis business problems – was “manufacturing or cultivating cannabis without a licence.”

Gold Mountain was a distributor licensed, but according to the DCC database, this permit expired in July. According to the database, Gold Mountain did not hold any other permits.

Bogans was ignored when she tried to raise concerns about Gold Mountain in December with Elliott, Salama and Elliott. She also tried to draw attention to reports from testing labs that Category I pesticides, which could harm consumers, were found in cannabis products on the shelves of licensed dispensaries. Bogans was also ignored in this regard for weeks.

On Jan. 11, Bogans finally “raised this issue again, requesting information on how to refer the matter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Fish and Wildlife and CalEPA.”

The suit states that “the very next day, January 12, 2024 Plaintiff was informed by Elliott of her termination.”

The suit claims that “Defendant terminated Plaintiff because of her constant complaints about state, federal and hostile work environments and violations of the law,” instead of taking action against the real wrongdoers.

A spokesperson for OCM declined to comment, citing the ongoing nature of the litigation as well as confidential personnel issues.

The lawsuit seeks damages for whistleblower reprisal, intentional infliction emotional distress, and alleged other misdeeds.

According to court records, a case management meeting is scheduled for March 20.