West Coast Cure Lawsuit Claims Cannabis Brand Dodges California Regulations, Sells Contaminated Products

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims marijuana brand West Coast Cure has side-stepped California cannabis testing regulations and sold products that contain dangerous contaminants.

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The 25-page fraud lawsuit against Shield Management Group, which does business as West Coast Cure, centers on what the case calls a “disturbing pattern” reportedly emerging in California’s cannabis industry. In particular, the complaint concerns the claim that certain retailers, such as West Coast Cure, allegedly seek out testing laboratories that will “turn a blind eye” to “safety fails” or detected contamination in a product’s sample batch.

The suit contends that the defendant has engaged in this fraudulent practice, known as “lab shopping,” in a “calculated effort” to manipulate test results and conceal the presence of prohibited adulterants in its cannabis products.

According to California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) regulations, cannabis products, before they can be sold, must be tested by a licensed lab for their THC content and the presence of foreign material, heavy metals, residual pesticides, processing chemicals and more, the case explains. Per the complaint, the lab must then report the results to the DCC in a document that includes a “pass” or “fail” indication for each substance for which a product was tested.

As the filing tells it, independent testing has revealed that 21 commercially available West Coast Cure-brand products contain prohibited contaminants, sometimes in amounts up to 234 times above what is allowed under DCC regulations.

“Proper testing would have identified these substances and would have rendered them unfit for sale,” the cannabis lawsuit charges.

This degree of contamination is “alarmingly prevalent” in the state’s competitive cannabis industry, the case alleges, noting that a 2017 study found that up to 80 percent of commercially available cannabis products are adulterated by pesticides, bacteria or other dangerous solvents.

The complaint asserts that California’s cannabis market has “devolved into a free-for-all” in which certain sellers and labs have agreed to ignore safety fails that would otherwise keep “tainted goods” off shelves.

“The motivation for ignoring the presence of contaminants is alarming but simple: if the lab were to accurately report the results, the batch of product being tested could not be sold; if the lab ignores the contaminants, then the products are marketable,” the filing says.

According to the suit, misreporting results in this way has created a market that is unsafe for consumers and unfair for honest labs who comply with DCC regulations.

Per the case, the West Coast Cure cannabis products at issue include the following varieties:

• Apple Burst;
• Birthday Cake;
• Biscotti;
• Bubba Kush;
• Gas OG;
• Jack Herer;
• Lucky Charmz;
• Strawberry Cream;
• CUREpen – Birthday;
• CUREpen – Gelato;
• CUREpen – Jack Herer;
• CUREpen – Lemon Cooler;
• CUREpen – Watermelon Sorbet;
• Apple Burst CUREpen cartridge, 1 gram;
• Jack Herer CUREpen cartridge, 1 gram;
• Lucky Charmz CUREpen cartridge, 1 gram;
• Biscotti CUREpen cartridge, 1 gram;
• Blue Dream;
• Maui Waui;
• Orange Cookies; and
• Zkittles.

The complaint also takes issue with the one-gram Cranberry Crush distillate cartridge and one-gram Pineapple Gelato distillate cartridge sold under the Phire brand.

The West Coast Cure contaminated cannabis lawsuit looks to represent any California residents who purchased any of the products listed on this page since June 15, 2020.

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