No one has ever died from weed until now

A federal agency is investigating the death of a worker at Trulieve Cannabis in Holyoke in January, claiming she was unable to breathe after inhaling cannabis dust.

A worker at the facility died after filling pre-roll joints and complaining of difficulty breathing, according to an initial inspection report by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. According to OSHA, the worker was packaging ground cannabis flowers when she was injured over the dangers of ground cannabis dust.

The report does not reveal the identity of the deceased employee, but The Young Jurks, a Massachusetts podcast group, did identify the deceased employee. According to her obituary, Lorna McMurray was a 27-year-old who had just started work at the Holyoke plant.

According to the obituary, McMurrey died Friday at Baystate Medical Center surrounded by her adoring family. She was born in Springfield, graduated from Westfield High School in 2013 and had lived in West Springfield for most of her life. The obituary says she recently began working at Trulieve’s Grow Facility in Holyoke before tragedy struck. In a statement to MJBizDaily, Trulieve also confirmed that the deceased employee was Lorna McMurrey.

Laura Bruneau, McMurray’s mother, revealed in a Commonwealth Magazine article that she is considering suing the company for wrongful death. She explained that changes needed to be made to protect workers. She reiterated that she would not want another person to go through a similar incident.

The OSHA report

Without giving many details, the OSHA incident report mentions that McMurray was unable to breathe due to “marijuana kief (dust) around 11 p.m. on January 7, 2022.” In addition, Trulieve was fined $35,219 by the federal labor agency for alleged “serious” violations. “Kief” describes the sticky powder that falls from cannabis buds.

According to OSHA, the company has violated federal regulations requiring companies to maintain documented hazard communication plans and safety data sheets on hazardous chemicals and to provide training and adequate information about these substances.

A former Trulieve employee told The Young Jurks that Lorna McMurrey sadly died while handling kief at the company’s manufacturing facility in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The former employee claims to have left the facility about a month before her death due to terrible management and corruption at the company.

Public records obtained by OSHA showed that the agency fined Trulieve $6,215 for refusing to compile a list of hazardous chemicals at the facility, which included ground cannabis. An additional fine of $14,502 for failure to prepare an MSDS for the substance and $14,502 for failure to educate employees on how to handle hazardous chemicals such as Each violation was deemed material and had to be terminated by August 17, 2022.

In a reply to MJBizDaily, Trulieve noted that; Out of respect for family privacy, they do not go into details about what happened that day. However, OSHA took a very detailed look at the Holyoke site. PPE (personal protective equipment) was in place. OSHA tested the facility’s air quality, and all samples were well below acceptable limits. However, Trulieve has refuted OSHA’s findings that she was subpoenaed for violating communications guidelines.

OSHA stated that it withheld part of the investigation file due to a valid exception while legal action was taken. State officials are currently conducting at least one investigation.

According to the Cannabis Control Commission, the Trulieve incident is being investigated as the agency confirms its investigation is still open and ongoing. The commission sympathized with McMurrey’s family and said they will continue to work with public health officials to identify the contributing factors. The Commission takes the safety and well-being of patients, consumers and registered agents seriously. According to state regulations, companies are obliged to keep their premises clean and to report events that affect public safety.

The Hampden County Attorney General and State Police have been contacted by Attorney General Maura Healey for inquiries. Requests for information about the case were not answered by the state police. According to a Holyoke Police spokesman, there was a record of an ambulance call to Trulieve on that particular day, but no further details were given.

According to Jim Leydon, a spokesman for the Hampden Attorney’s Office, no criminal case is currently active in connection with McMurrey’s death. After receiving a call about a medical emergency, Leydon claimed McMurrey died at Baystate Medical Center. Because there was apparently no criminal involvement in the death, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner declined jurisdiction.

Trulieve Cannabis Corp

Trulieve is a publicly traded cannabis company headquartered in Florida with various facilities across the country. As of June 2022, the company generated $320.3 million in revenue and $182.2 million in profit from businesses in 11 states, according to Commonwealth Magazine. The Company operates leisure stores in Framingham and Worcester, including a leisure and medical store in Northampton.

According to MassLive, Trulieve Cannabis Corp. In June 2019, the buildings at 7 North Bridge St. and 56 Canal St .2 million US dollars was to be renovated.

Conclusion

Regulators have cited Trulieve in the past. OSHA fined the company’s Reading, Pennsylvania location $7,770 in March 2022 for failing to comply with a requirement to notify OSHA when an employee is hospitalized, amputated, or has a loses eye. A Trulieve company in Quincy, Fla., was fined $6,000 by OSHA in 2019 for seven violations, six of which involved respiratory protection and one related to hazard communications. Florida has three unresolved OSHA complaints from early 2022. Commonwealth Magazine reports that the CCC has opened an investigation into McMurray’s death.

WHAT IS PINE EVER…

WHAT IS KIEF AND HOW TO SMOKE IT? READ HERE!