One of the US’s largest cannabis brands, Cookies, has had its licence suspended by the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA), less than a week after the grand opening of its franchise store in Baltimore.
According to a document posted on the local regulator’s website, Cookies has allegedly violated a number of state laws including an ‘operational failure risking diversion or endangering health’, thought to be related to its cannabis ‘smoke blower’, breaches of state advertising laws and a failure to maintain or share security camera footage.
MJBizDaily reported that the suspension came on June 02, less than a week after Cookies opened its store in Baltimore on May 27, and ahead of the planned launch of adult-use cannabis sales in the state on July 1.
While the local Cookies franchise operator does not yet hold an adult-use licence in the state, the store still stood to benefit from the increased interest in cannabis sales once the adult-use legislation was brought in.
Cookies now has 30 days to appeal against the suspension, but there is as yet no clarification on whether this has been submitted.
A day before the opening, an inspector from the MCA is understood to have visited the site, and listed ‘numerous’ violations of state law, before requesting information from the Cookies store which it failed to provide.
The MCA reportedly requested surveillance footage of the store’s opening event, which was not provided, and then revisited the premises on May 31 to obtain the footage, when yet more violations were recorded.
