Vireo Health, the parent of Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of the two licensed cannabis providers in Minnesota, Vireo Health of New York, one of the 5 licensed cannabis providers in New York and MaryMed, LLC, which recently won a pre-approval to produce and process cannabis in Maryland, was accused in late 2015 of illegally transporting cannabis oils from Minnesota to New York. The company issued a denial in June, blaming the investigation on “accusations made by a disgruntled former employee following termination.” The company stated then that the materials were waste products and not cannabis oils, and that they were incinerated not transported out of state.
Today, two former employees accused of transporting oils valued in excess of $500K have been charged by Brian Lutes, Wright County’s chief criminal prosecutor, and Lutes may file charges against a third unnamed employee:
The Wright County Attorney’s office has brought felony charges against two former employees of Otsego-based Minnesota Medical Solutions, saying they smuggled concentrated marijuana oils out of state to aid their parent company.
According to the complaint filed Monday, Ronald Owens, who worked as security director of Minnesota Medical Solutions, and Laura Bultman, the company’s former chief medical officer, conspired in December 2015 to transport 5.6 kilograms of concentrated marijuana oils from its Otsego, Minn. facility to New York because parent company Vireo Health was struggling to meet a production deadline for facilities licensed in New York state.
Read Tom Scheck’s “Charges: Minn. medical marijuana execs illegally distributed oils”: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/02/06/minn-medical-marijuana-illegal-distribution-charges
Editor’s note: A spokesperson for Vireo Health submitted a statement subsequent to our publication of this post:
“When we became aware of the possibility that one or more individuals may have acted in ways contrary to the laws of the state and to our own policies and procedures, we acted immediately to investigate the allegations, communicate with our regulators and take appropriate action. We take seriously our legal obligations, our regulatory responsibilities and our own standards and procedures in this area. We will cooperate with the agencies investigating this situation even as we maintain our laser focus on providing patients, who suffer from life-threatening and debilitating diseases like cancer and ALS, with best-in-class medical cannabis products and compassionate care.”
