Two former employees of a local marijuana company reached out to our newsroom, concerned that their growing process may not be safe for the public’s consumption
WESTFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) – Two former employees of a local marijuana company reached out to our newsroom, concerned that their growing process may not be safe for the public’s consumption.
Those two former employees also told us that they were fired from their jobs this week without reason. Now, one of them is speaking out, sharing why they are concerned that the marijuana grown at this facility in Westfield is not safe for the public to smoke.
“I was greeted by the manager, and he handed him a paper and he said, ‘Sorry, we have to let you go.’ And I looked at him and said, ‘Why? Is there an explanation?’ And he shrugged and kind of pushed me out the door,” Karla Conte of Agawam told us. “Two kids under the age 10, getting fired 12 days before Christmas is kind of definitely bad for me right now.”
Karla Conte is a former employee of the cannabis dispensary HEKA Incorporated out of Westfield. She spoke exclusively with Western Mass News after she said she was wrongly fired from her job at the cultivation facility on Tuesday. She told us that she was just about to hit the 90-day mark for receiving benefits.
Conte shared photos with Western Mass News of the cannabis plants at the growing facility. She told us that they are unsafe for the public to smoke.
“The dirt that we use is covered in mold, and I was the person that would break up the dirt, so we were actually planting in moldy dirt at this point,” she said. “I had to wear a mask to avoid inhaling dirt for 8 hours.”
Back in June this year, another former employee at this same cannabis dispensary spoke with Western Mass News sharing similar concerns. Another employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told us that they were also fired this week without reason and echoed Conte’s complaints.
Now, Conte is also raising another concern about the management at the company.
“The boss’s people, who are in charge of the cultivation right now, have no degree in cultivation or experience, so you have people who are just uneducated, trained to cultivate weed that people are smoking for medical purposes,” she said.
The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission has strict policies that local dispensaries are required to follow. This includes sending their plants in for testing, but the former employees claim that the company has found a way around that.
We reached out to the Cannabis Control Commission for a response regarding these claims. They told us in a statement, in part:
“This remains an active inquiry, and the Commission continues to engage the licensee to ensure compliance with its regulations. The agency has no further update at this time.”
H/T: www.westernmassnews.com
