How a Michigan dispensary got busted giving away free weed under a fake name

State regulators say staff at Muha Meds’ Ypsilanti dispensary used a bogus customer account to hand out thousands of free vaporizer cartridges, among other alleged violations.

MICHIGAN—It started with an anonymous complaint and the name of a dispensary regular who doesn’t exist.

According to a formal, eight-count state complaint filed last week, the staff at Muha Meds’ dispensary in Ypsilanti allegedly created a fake customer profile under the name “Chris Peterson,” then used it to move thousands of grams of marijuana concentrate off the books.

And the phantom customer wasn’t just a glitch in the system. Regulators say the account was used again and again for employee samples, giveaways, and “buy-one-get-one” promotions. In one afternoon alone, 400 vape cartridges were allegedly rung up under the fake name for just a few cents apiece. And two weeks later, another 487 vape carts went out the door the same way.

All told, those transactions allegedly accounted for nearly 2,000 grams of marijuana concentrate—about 100 times Michigan’s legal possession limit for a single person.

And now, the company is facing possible fines, license restrictions, or even a full-blown suspension. The scheme is spelled out in an eight-page complaint filed last month, which details a long list of alleged violations ranging from inaccurate tracking to unreported criminal activity.

What happened at Muha Meds?

Earlier this year, the state Cannabis Regulatory Agency received an anonymous tip from a former Muha Meds employee that alleged a wide array of legal violations.

When Cannabis Regulatory Agency inspectors showed up at the dispensary on North Hamilton Street in July, the store’s general manager reportedly admitted to some of them—including that the store’s “Chris Peterson” account wasn’t real and that staff had been using it to facilitate promotions and hand out samples. In the complaint, regulators also say Muha Meds had already been warned for using the fake account but allegedly continued the practice anyway.

A walk-through of the facility also turned up other compliance issues. Investigators say they found unlabeled pre-rolls in a plastic tub, bags of flower without state tracking tags, and bulk marijuana trim that didn’t match up with the amounts listed in the state’s inventory system.

State regulators also reviewed the store’s sales data and confirmed two massive transactions linked to the fake “Chris Peterson” profile—both of which, the complaint alleges, resulted in customers leaving the dispensary with felony-level quantities of cannabis concentrates.

In one instance, an employee sold 400 two-gram vape carts (worth more than $5,000) to a customer identified only as E.L. under the phony “Chris Peterson” account. The next day, the same customer picked up the entire batch and walked out with 800 grams of concentrate.

Two weeks later, another employee allegedly processed a similar sale for a customer known as P.W., who, according to the complaint, received 487 vape carts valued at about $4,400 (another 974 grams) that were carried straight out to their vehicle by a dispensary staff member.

Neither case was reported to state regulators, the complaint says.

What happens now?

The anonymous tip—and subsequent investigation—became the backbone of an eight-count complaint the Cannabis Regulatory Agency filed on Oct. 24 against the company. 

All told, Muha Meds allegedly violated rules that require the dispensary and its staff to:

• Accurately record all transactions and inventory in the statewide monitoring system 
• Verify customers’ identities and ensure they don’t exceed purchase limits 
• Tag and label every product batch kept or sold on site 
• Store marijuana only in secured, limited-access areas 
• Properly document all internal transfers and product samples; and 
• Notify regulators and local police within 24 hours of any criminal activity.

Under state law, those alleged violations could trigger eventual fines, license suspension, or outright revocation—penalties that could effectively shut down the Ypsilanti dispensary and potentially jeopardize Muha Meds’ entire Michigan operation. The company has less than one month to request a hearing or conference with state regulators before sanctions are imposed.

It’s worth noting: This isn’t the brand’s first clash with the state.

In 2024, regulators temporarily suspended Muha Meds’ processing license in Michigan after inspectors discovered untraceable vape and gummy batches at its Pinconning facility. That license was later reinstated after the company pledged to fix its compliance systems.

At the time, co-founder Muhammad “Muha” Garawi also told The MichiGanja Report that he wanted to bring “LA culture” to Michigan and promised tighter oversight. The company now faces questions over whether those fixes ever really took hold. Attempts to contact Garawi this week through the same channels that were used in our previous coverage were unsuccessful. 

READ MORE: State regulators shut down Michigan’s most controversial cannabis lab

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