A California-based company that’s licensed to sell cannabis products has been fined a staggering $128 million for producing about 3 million illegal CBD gummies in 2018. This is believed to be the highest fine that has ever been passed in California for a cannabis-related offense. The judgment was passed last Monday by a Los Angeles judge after the defendant failed to produce any valid objection to the fine.The company in question is Vertical Bliss which has been operating in California as Kushy Punch.
Kushy Punch got into the law’s crosshairs in November 2019 when the company was linked with a cannabis production facility in Canoga Park that is not licensed. All commercial cannabis activity in California must be conducted in a location with a valid license that has been issued by the cannabis licensing authority. State officials raided the illegal facility and confiscated CBD gummies manufactured for the Kushy Punch brand that were worth close to $64 million. The Attorney General then filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state Bureau of Cannabis Control and the Department of Public Health against Vertical Bliss.
The Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) has been awarded the maximum civil penalty, of $128 million, that was sought in the lawsuit. The DCC’s director Nicole Elliott seems content with this ruling. “We applaud the Court for its commitment to enforcing the rule of law in California’s cannabis industry,” she said in a press statement.
