Changes could include additional oversight, momentum for unionization, or the founding of a state-run testing lab.
The death of a Trulieve employee at a Massachusetts product manufacturing facility in January may lead to significant shifts within the state’s cannabis industry.
That could include additional industry oversight, momentum for unionization efforts, and perhaps more yet unforeseen shifts, such as founding a state-run testing lab to act as a check on privately owned marijuana labs, sources told Green Market Report.
That doesn’t include the still-unclear blowback for Trulieve (OTC: TCNNF) (CSE: TRUL) itself since there are still ongoing state and federal investigations into the death, and the family of Lorna McMurray—the Trulieve employee who died—has not yet ruled out legal action against the company, according to media reports.
“We were on the way to that major reform, and as sad as it is, the death of Lorna McMurray and the response have made that reform not only an inevitability but have expanded its scope and absolutely expedited the timeline for its implementation,” said Grant Ellis, a policy expert at the Parabola Center for Law and Policy.
Holyoke Ward 5 councilor Linda Vacon, chairperson for the ordinance committee, filed an order Tuesday requesting state permission to inspect extensive cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facilities in the municipality “to ensure compliance with health and safety regulations for workers,” according to a report on MassLive.
McMurray, who worked at a Trulieve manufacturing facility in Holyoke, died from “the hazards of ground cannabis dust,” according to a report by the federal Occupation and Safety and Health Administration.
The Young Jurks podcast first reported the death in early October. Since then, Trulieve has faced further scrutiny over the incident, including at least one former employee who alleged to Benzinga that the business lied about having personal protective equipment available for workers.
Trulieve’s Position
In a statement on Oct. 20, Trulieve said McMurrey’s death was “tragic” but defended its record as an employer.
The company said that there had also been incorrect information reported about the circumstances in January when she died, including that she’d been wearing a paper mask when, in actuality, the company said she had been wearing an N95 safety mask for “at least a portion of the day.”
The statement further contended that the company notified all proper authorities within 24 hours of McMurray’s collapse, including the OSHA collapse and the CCC.
“We stand by our record of providing important and full health protections to the more than 175 workers at the Holyoke facility. Every person working there is important to Trulieve,” the company statement said.
“We believe we have demonstrated a safe and healthy work environment, but we will work with OSHA and the Massachusetts CCC to address their concerns. We want our employees to know they are safe and protected and that we are open to good ideas about any necessary improvements.”
OSHA fined Trulieve $35,219 for a trio of violations, but Trulieve noted that those were related to communications about hazards and not allegations of an unsafe workplace.
According to media reports, the company is contesting all three violations, but the federal and state investigations are ongoing.
Possible Ripple Effects
As for upcoming regulatory changes, Ellis cited the passage of S 3096, which was signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker in August, which “coincides” with how the state Cannabis Control Commission was planning to revisit existing industry rules.
“State lawmakers and regulators will be engaged in an active conversation to determine what regulatory changes will be made to ensure better oversight of companies like Trulieve,” Ellis said. “If a change to statute is required, I have no doubt… if it does need to happen, it will happen quickly.”
Ellis said McMurrey’s death is a tragic “canary in the coal mine, which reflects the true state of some larger operators in Massachusetts and what they’re trying to hide from regulators, the public and lawmakers.”
Ellis said he was told directly by a former Trulieve employee that the company’s cannabis products were failing safety tests by independent laboratories for contaminants and that the business knew about it before McMurrey’s death.
“The very first thing that’s going to be looked at is how is it possible—and I know this for a fact—that Trulieve was failing its test results; its products were failing right up until this investigation began,” Ellis said. Its flower products and other products were failing because of contaminants. How is it that all of a sudden, things changed in November 2021?”
“Are there labs in Massachusetts that are complacent in passing products that threaten public safety? And in turn, will a state-standards laboratory need to be created? Not necessarily to do the testing, but to provide a check and balance, to make sure labs aren’t passing products that are dangerous to the public,” Ellis said, of unanswered policy questions that lawmakers must tackle.
Green Market Report could not independently verify Ellis’s claims that Trulieve products failed safety testing.
The state Cannabis Control Commission did not immediately respond to a request for further information about cannabis product test results.
A Trulieve spokesman, however, vehemently rejected the implication that product testing failures may have had something to do with McMurrey’s death.
“The statements from a former employee are wildly misleading,” the spokesman wrote in an email.
“In the cannabis industry, as in many industries, products fail tests regularly. What is missing from the anonymous source’s accusation is the reality that when those products fail these stringent tests, as required under Massachusetts law, they are destroyed,” the Trulieve spokesman wrote. This is precisely how the system is supposed to work to ensure consumer safety and why we support third-party lab testing.”
On the flip side, Boston-based attorney Blake Mensing said he doesn’t foresee a significant regulatory shift due to McMurrey’s death, in part because there’s no glaring evidence yet of any misdeed by Trulieve that caused the incident.
“I don’t think there will likely be a huge change. The regulations already say to keep things clean and sanitary for your employees,” Mensing said. “If I had to bet, I don’t think the commission will change its regulations from this particular instance.”
Mensing said he thinks he might have some legal exposure if McMurrey’s family decides the standard for review would be very different in a civil suit. If they did anything wrong in furnishing personal protective equipment or not allowing sufficient breaks, there could be some traction on the civil side,” Mensing said.
“Frankly, if I were her family, I would sue. But I’m a lawyer.”
Regulations perhaps the problem
Suehiko Ono, the CEO of EOS Farms in Massachusetts, said another regulatory issue that could be revisited—and may be part of the problem—is a state prohibition on organic pesticides in cannabis cultivation.
Ono said he’s not sure what could change in the regulations themselves to increase worker safety since, according to his reading, most of the state rules are based on existing OSHA regulations anyway.
But, he said, a significant flaw in the Massachusetts cultivation rules is that operators like him are prohibited from using organic products to fight off potential contaminants, such as powdery mildew.
Ono said that’s a systemic flaw that encourages cannabis contamination, and regulators should fix it.
“You’re forcing the proliferation of yeast and mold for (testing) failure, and then you have to process it to get rid of it. So you are not only forced to allow the yeast and mold to grow but you’re forced to expose your workers to it,” Ono said.
In addition, Ono said a lot of companies will likely be “scrambling” in the wake of McMurrey’s death to revisit their worker protection protocols, in part because there are no clear OSHA rules for the entire cannabis industry.
“I have to assume there will be some second-order effects from OSHA coming out of this. At least that’s what we’re anticipating,” Ono said.
Unionization momentum?
McMurrey’s death also gives more heft to the possibility that organized labor, in particular the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, may end up making even more inroads with cannabis workers.
“We’re at the beginning of a big union push across the state,” said Aidan Coffey, an organizing director with UFCW Local 1445. “Ms. McMurrey’s death… has opened the eyes of many community stakeholders.”
Coffey said the UFCW would attempt to organize more workers the way it has in several other states for years and amend state law to require labor peace agreements for larger marijuana businesses such as Trulieve.
Such agreements are mandatory in many other state cannabis markets, including California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.
“We’re optimistic that… we can get this accomplished in the new year,” Coffey said of a new labor peace agreement requirement for marijuana businesses.
Disclaimer: https://www.greenmarketreport.com/trulieve-worker-death-could-spur-changes-in-massachusetts-cannabis-industry/
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