HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced Monday that it has denied AGRiMED Industries of PA, LLC’s, application to renew its grower/processor permit after it determined the company did not comply with regulations governing the processing, harvesting or destruction of marijuana plants.
AGRiMED has 30 days to appeal the decision, the department said.
“Our medical marijuana program has been one of the most successful in the country, providing evidence-based, quality options for patients suffering from serious medical conditions,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said in a press release. “Part of the reason for that success is our efforts to hold grower/processors and dispensaries accountable for meeting their obligations under the law. In this case, AGRiMED was not able to do that so we have denied its application to renew its permit.”
AGRiMED was issued a medical marijuana grower/processor permit in June 2017 and became operational in February 2018. It has been growing marijuana, but its processing equipment is not operational, so it has not been processing or shipping medication for sale at dispensaries.
The action to not renew AGRiMED’s permit follows a cease and desist order that was issued on July 1. During an unannounced inspection, AGRiMED was not able to produce records establishing how or when it destroyed matured marijuana plants. It also could not produce security footage of the destruction of the plants, as required, because the security cameras were frequently non-functional. According to the cease and desist order, plants that reach maturity and are not processed must either be harvested, trimmed or destroyed.
Without a permit, AGRiMED is required to dispose of any remaining seeds, immature medical marijuana plants, medical marijuana plants and medical marijuana products under the direct supervision of the department at a date to be determined.
