According to the Press Herald, the city of Portland, Maine shut down ProVerde Laboratories, prohibiting them from conducting business in their Maine location and forcing them to remove cannabis products from the premises. However, the lab was shut down for a seemingly innocuous reason: city permits.
The city issued citations for operating without a permit or a business license back in December, hence why the city shut down the laboratory this month, pending a reinspection in February. ProVerde has already applied for a change-of-use permit, but that process was still in review when the lab was shut down.
The Press Herald says that because of the still pending review process, ProVerde does not have approval from Portland to operate. Citing a violation notice, they say that ProVerde had not applied for a cannabis testing facility license.
However, things get a little murky because Chris Hudalla, founder and CSO of ProVerde, told the Press Herald that he thought Maine only requires testing licenses for adult-use labs, not medical testing labs. He is asking for clarification from regulators.
The Maine regulatory agency in charge of the state’s cannabis industry does not, in fact, require testing for medical cannabis products, thus explaining why ProVerde wouldn’t need a testing facility license.
Until the reinspection next month, Proverde’s expansion strategy in Maine looks like it is currently on hold.