Viridis vanquished: State regulators shut down Michigan’s most controversial cannabis lab

After a years-long battle with state regulators, Viridis Labs is being forced to shut down—and its ex-cop founders have been banned from Michigan’s marijuana industry for life.

LANSING—One of the biggest villains in Michigan weed has been defeated.

After years of lawsuits, recalls, and finger-pointing, state regulators have finally yanked the licenses from Viridis Laboratories—once the most dominant cannabis testing company in Michigan—and permanently banned its three majority owners from the marijuana industry.

“This is justice, plain and simple,” Brian Hanna, director of the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency, said in a statement. “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.”

A long, ugly saga

Viridis launched in 2017 with a bold promise: to bring credibility and scientific rigor to Michigan’s newly regulated cannabis market. The pitch was built on the resumes of its founders—Greg Michaud, Todd Welch, and Michele Glinn—all of whom had spent years working in the Michigan State Police crime lab, testing the same types of products but for a much different purpose.

And from the start, plenty of people in Michigan’s cannabis community were skeptical. 

These were the same ex-cops who had once spent their careers helping enforce marijuana prohibition—including cases that targeted medical marijuana patients. Now, suddenly, they were running the lab responsible for testing the very same products they used to criminalize.

That uneasy origin story bred distrust. Activists and industry insiders questioned whether Viridis could be trusted to play fair—and those suspicions only grew as the company quickly grabbed a massive share of the state’s cannabis testing market. Back then, Welch bragged to reporters (including this one) about how Viridis was testing 67% of all the weed being sold in Michigan.

Chaos in 2021

Long-held suspicions over shady practices at Viridis’ labs in Lansing and Bay City boiled over into a dangerous reality in November 2021, when state regulators ordered the largest cannabis recall in state history. Nearly 64,000 pounds of product worth $229 million was yanked from the shelves after state inspectors flagged Viridis’ test results as “inaccurate” and “unreliable.”

And because Viridis was testing most of the cannabis being sold in Michigan, the recall sent shockwaves through the industry, forcing hundreds of dispensaries to pull products from the shelves and leaving consumers questioning whether their weed was mislabeled or unsafe.

Viridis fought back hard. The company sued, a judge later trimmed back the scope of the recall, and the lab kept operating while the legal battle dragged on. But by then, the damage was done: regulators accused the lab of inflating THC numbers and cutting corners on safety protocols. 

And last month, an administrative judge agreed—finding that Viridis had repeatedly violated state testing protocols and misidentified mold, in one case even passing it off as “mite poop.”

The final blow

A settlement agreement announced this month ends the legal fight with Viridis once and for all.

As part of the deal:

• Viridis must shut down its Lansing laboratory immediately. The location is now listed as permanently closed and the parking lot was totally empty on Monday morning. 
• Viridis must close down its Bay City lab by Sept. 28, 2025. Minority investors are reportedly reorganizing under a new company called Aurora Analytical Labs.
• The original owners are banned for life. Michaud, Welch, and Glinn—the ex-cops who built Viridis—are now permanently barred from Michigan’s cannabis industry. 
• The lawsuits are over. Viridis has agreed to drop all its pending lawsuits and complaints against state regulators, ending years of expensive litigation between the two entities.

Why it matters

This isn’t just about one shady testing laboratory going down. It’s about state regulators sending a message to the entire $3 billion Michigan cannabis market that testing integrity matters.

For years, “lab shopping” has plagued the cannabis industry, with companies chasing inflated THC numbers instead of accurate science to sell more products to unassuming customers.

Viridis was the poster child for that problem. And now with this settlement, state regulators are signaling that they won’t tolerate labs cutting corners just to keep their customers happy.

Meanwhile, the state is building its own testing lab, set to open later this year, to establish a baseline for accuracy and keep private labs in check. For most Michigan stoners, this move will translate to one less question over the safety of their stash. And for the rest of the cannabis industry, it’s a warning: cut corners on science and regulators will eventually come knocking.

READ MORE: Nessel goes to bat for Michigan dispensaries stuck in the cash-only era

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