Dear Friends of Rev,
At yesterday’s Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) meeting, it was announced that we are being fined $120,000 related to improper levels of ethanol in batches of vaporizers. It is important to understand this relates to a closed incident circa late 2018 – early 2019, during an intense growth phase of the industry and the company, and that the CCC is just now publicly announcing and collecting the fine. Here is the back story so you’re all aware.
In December 2018, staff at our cultivation facility received test results from batches of vaporizers detecting higher-than-allowed levels of ethanol. A former employee, who was in charge of reviewing the results, failed to follow protocol and did not catch this. So, it went unreported until it was discovered in March 2019.
Upon this discovery, we took quick action, including:
- Immediately informed all customers who bought the products from us
- Hired an independent scientist to review the results – she confirmed the ethanol levels were not harmful
- Launched an internal investigation into the cause of the excess ethanol, which was shared with the CCC
- Established new standard operating procedures for reviewing lab results and documentation of lab training attendance by staff
- Reclaimed all vapes sold at the time so they could be retested
- Shared results with the CCC and our wholesale customers
While this incident could have been avoided had the test results been more carefully reviewed, we must be accountable as an organization and we accept that we missed the mark.
If there is a silver lining to be found in this, it’s that this episode occurred before the introduction of marijuana enforcement reporting compliance (METRC) in Massachusetts. Had that been in place in December 2018, everyone would have been alerted to the results. Between METRC and moving irregular results from testing on the first page of reports (rather than buried inside), we’re confident this was a one-time incident.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with any questions or comments related to this matter.
