An Arkansas lawsuit filed in federal court alleges that the state’s cannabis testing laboratories are inflating THC levels in medical cannabis products as part of a scheme to inflate prices, KARK reports. The lawsuit was filed in February on behalf of Jakie Hanan, a medical cannabis patient in the state. A similar lawsuit that alleged violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act was dismissed that month.
The new lawsuit does not claim any RICO violations but argues THC inflation violates the federal Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
The lawsuit names Steep Hill as a testing lab that is inflating numbers and that medical cannabis providers prefer laboratories that gives their product higher potency numbers so they can charge a higher price, the lawsuit alleges. Medical cannabis growers Osage Creek Cultivation LLC, Bold Team LLC, and NSMC-OPCO LLC, which does business as Natural State Medicinal, are also named in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit contends that products with inflated and inconsistent potency are “unable to reliably provide Plaintiff [Hanan] the relief he expected” and that Hanan had cannabis he purchased tested at a second lab which revealed the THC difference.
The lawsuit asks for a jury trial, while attorneys have moved that the case is dismissed.
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