Two employees of an American multi-state medical cannabis company have been charged with illegally transporting products across state lines.
Both defendants, once officers of Minnesota Medical Solutions, were charged last week with unlawfully taking cannabis oil from Minnesota to a facility in upstate New York, according to the Albany Times Union.
The two people charged were reportedly the former chief medical officer and the former chief security officer.
Minnesota Medical Solutions’s parent company, Vireo Health, holds medical cannabis licenses in both states. The two were allegedly transporting cannabis oil from Minnesota to Vireo’s facility because plants grown by the company in New York were “inadequate to make medicine.”
Because cannabis remains illegal under federal law — even for medicinal purposes — it is unlawful to transport any cannabis products across state lines. New York required companies to conduct all parts of their operations, from growing the plants to selling the medicines, within the state.
A third defendant is also expected to be charged in connection with the case, although the company itself has not be charged with any wrongdoing. It’s still unclear as to whether Vireo will face any repercussions from the case, as MMJ program regulators in both New York and Minnesota have thus far declined comment. A company spokesman told the Times Union that the firm is cooperating with law enforcement.