Courtesy photos
Former cops Todd Welch, left, and Dr. Michele Glinn have been banned from Michigan’s cannabis industry for numerous alleged violations.
Three former Michigan State Police cops who founded one of the most controversial marijuana testing labs in the state have been permanently banned from participating in the cannabis industry.
The Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) announced Wednesday that Viridis Laboratories and its sister facility, Viridis North, will shut down, ending years of legal battles and disciplinary actions over allegations that the company used unapproved methods, produced unreliable test results, inflated THC levels, and downplayed hazards in cannabis.
As part of the agreement, the lab’s majority owners — former state police forensic director Greg Michaud, forensic scientist Todd Welch, and former toxicologist Dr. Michele Glinn — are barred for life from holding any role in the state’s cannabis market. Viridis must close its Lansing lab immediately and shutter its Bay City location by Sept. 28.
“This is justice, plain and simple,” Brian Hanna, the executive director of the CRA, said. “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 settlement ends a years-long clash between regulators and Viridis, which was one of the most dominant cannabis testing labs in Michigan. Founded in 2018, the company’s owners claimed their former law enforcement credential gave them unrivaled credibility. But it quickly drew scrutiny from regulators and competitors for allegedly inflating THC levels and disregarding scientific standards.
In 2021, state regulators ordered the largest recall in Michigan history after questioning Viridis results, forcing hundreds of dispensaries to pull an estimated $229 million worth of products from shelves.
“Several competitors alleged they were pushed to the brink — some even out of business — as a result of Viridis’ disregard for the rules,” the CRA said in a news release.
An administrative law judge in March found that Viridis repeatedly violated state rules by failing to follow its own testing protocols, misidentifying mold, and keeping inadequate records.
Despite those findings, Viridis stayed in business while fighting regulators in court. The company argued the CRA was targeting it unfairly, but its lawsuits were repeatedly dismissed.
Stories of inflated THC levels have become so widespread that some consumers boycott cannabis products tested by Viridis, which critics say is often reporting suspiciously high potency.
By admitting to all violations in six formal complaints and agreeing to drop its legal challenges, Viridis has now brought an end to one of the industry’s most contentious regulatory battles.
“This wasn’t just a single misstep,” Hanna said. “It was a sustained, deliberate pattern of noncompliance that shook confidence in the entire regulated cannabis system.”
At its peak, Viridis tested an estimated quarter-million pounds of cannabis flower each year, giving the company enormous influence of the state’s $3 billion marijuana market.
“We are at a pivotal moment, where scientific progress in cannabis is unfolding under our watch,” Claire Patterson, director of the CRA’s reference laboratory, said. “Here, we had a responsibility to get this right and set a critical precedent. Scientific integrity isn’t a formality — it’s the foundation of the cannabis industry. The future of this industry depends on ethics, transparency, and science we can all trust.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
