What does The Industry Have to Say When Licensed Operators are Producing Illegal Products at Unlicensed Locations?

California has a troubling new wrinkle in the vaping story rocking the nation.

Prompted by a tip, investigators at the California Department of Consumer Affairs served a search warrant on Thursday, Oct. 3, at a light industrial space in northwest Los Angeles’ Canoga Park district.

There they found an illegal cannabis product manufacturing operation apparently operated by Kushy Punch, a legal state-licensed company. Authorities seized a number of finished products, including gummies in Kushy Punch packaging and disposable vaporizers in Kushy Vape packaging.

In photos obtained by Leafly, the facility appeared to be performing petro-solvent extractions, where a technician concentrates the active ingredient in cannabis, THC. Petro-solvent extraction is legal with a permit in California. The extraction method can sometimes have the effect of concentrating pesticides along with the THC.

Edibles and vape cartridges seized

The San Fernando Valley facility appeared to be in the business of putting those extracts into professional-looking THC foods as well as disposable vape pen cartridges. Tall file cabinets held thousands of boxes of Kushy Vapes pens and Kushy Punch edibles packaged and ready for sale and consumption.

“Investigators confiscated thousands of illegal vape carts worth millions of dollars,” Bureau of Cannabis Control spokesperson Alex Traverso told Leafly. The investigation is ongoing. [Read More @ Leafly]

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