Lawsuits Against Curaleaf Pile Up Following CBD-THC Labeling Debacle

Select, the Oregon cannabis brand owned by multi-state operator Curaleaf CURLF recently made headlines for committing another substantial labeling mistake with possible serious health implications.

This time, the cannabis producer also known as Cura Cannabis, mixed up its two lines of products – one with CBD and the other with THC, causing confusing states for some of its consumers who were not expecting to get stoned from their CBD drops. 

Oregon state regulators had to recall the brand’s 1,000mg unflavored Select CBD drops, labeled as “Broad Spectrum,” but contained THC. And then the brand’s 1,000-mg bottles of unflavored, Select THC Tincture had to be recalled for not containing THC.

Unnecessary Surgery 

Shortly after, several lawsuits against the company were filed. The third and most recent one was filed by Michael Lopez, a 79-year-old man who ended up in the emergency room and underwent unnecessary surgery, due to the consumption of the Select CBD drops that were actually THC.

According to the lawsuit, the family - a grandfather, an aunt, and a granddaughter – all had unpleasant reactions to the drops, including nausea, distress, and dizziness lasting for several hours, reported Fox 12.

The grandfather ended up in the hospital because his symptoms were similar to those of a stroke. The family’s attorney said he is waiting to hear from his client’s healthcare provider about possible long-term health consequences.

The lawsuit claims Lopez was “taken by ambulance to the emergency room out of concerns he was having a stroke, and he experienced harm including unnecessary surgery, fear

 of death, unwanted confusion, stress, anxiety, psychosis, discomfort, and distress lasting several hours, and interference with life activities.”

Curaleaf will have a month to file its response to the suit in federal court.

Unintentional Human Error 

This lawsuit follows up on the lawsuits filed by Jason Crawforth and Kathleen Menard in September, writes Green Market Report.  

“After our preliminary investigation, we believe this mistake occurred due to unintentional human error,” Curaleaf announced in a brief statement at the time, adding that it will work on improving its quality controls and beef up training of its production workers.

 “We have worked with the [Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission] to recall the two batches in question, and the limited number of remaining units have been removed from sale,” Curaleaf told Law360. “We sincerely apologize to all customers impacted by this mistake, and we will actively return responses from anyone who reaches out.”

Price Action

Curaleaf’s shares were trading 0.58% lower at $11.32 per share at the time of this writing early afternoon on Monday. 

Photo: Courtesy of CRYSTALWEED cannabis on Unsplash