Michigan cannabis testing lab loses licenses, owners banned in long-running dispute

OG Article By Adrienne Roberts

August 22 2025

A years-long battle between a cannabis testing company and the Michigan marijuana regulator has ended, with the state revoking the licenses held by the lab and permanently banning its owners from participating in the industry, the state cannabis regulator announced Aug. 20.

The settlement results in the immediate revocation of Viridis’ Lansing licenses and the cannabis testing lab's three majority owners will be permanently excluded from participating in Michigan’s marijuana industry, the consent order said.

Minority investors in Viridis are reorganizing and forming a separate entity to run the lab in Bay City, according to an attorney for the minority investors.

"This is justice, plain and simple," Brian Hanna, the executive director of Michigan's CRA, said in a press release announcing the settlement. "Viridis failed to uphold the standards required of marijuana safety compliance facilities in Michigan. Viridis circumvented the rules. Their majority owners will never operate in this space again, and the Michigan cannabis industry will be stronger for it."

The saga with Viridis started with a massive recall in November 2021 of marijuana products tested by Viridis because the agency found inaccurate and/or unreliable results of many of the marijuana products tested by the labs.

Viridis was testing as much as 70% of all of the cannabis product on the market at the time.The recall, which resulted in the labs suing the state and a judge deciding to limit the recall, threw the young industry into a state of turmoil as hundreds of products that had failed microbial retesting were returned to store shelves.

The recall raised questions about the accuracy of marijuana product labels, with the CRA also arguing that Viridis was inflating THC (the psychoactive component of the marijuana plant) levels.

Hanna described Viridis' actions as a "sustained, deliberate pattern of noncompliance that shook confidence in the entire regulated cannabis system."

More on the recall's impact: Michigan’s cannabis testing industry like ‘Wild Wild West’: What it means for consumers

Viridis' attorney didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

As part of the agreement, Viridis’ three majority owners — Todd Welch, Gregoire Michaud and Michele Glinn — will be permanently excluded from participating in Michigan’s marijuana industry.

Viridis also agreed to dismiss its administrative complaint arguing the CRA unnecessarily disrupted its business and its two appeals pending in the Michigan Court of Appeals.