When Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer named Brian Hanna as the acting executive director of the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency nearly a year ago (he later was named the executive director), he quickly communicated his priority: Illicit cannabis is an issue that needs to be addressed and licensees who weren’t following the rules would be exposed.

An audit of the agency released Thursday by the state’s Office of the Auditor General, which audited the CRA between April 2021 and August 2022 (before Hanna started), offered one of the first looks at how effectively the agency was enforcing the rules before he stepped in and how it has tried to improve those efforts under Hanna’s leadership over the last year.

The audit found that the CRA was mostly effective in the areas the audit examined, such as processing applications for medical and recreational marijuana business licenses and medical marijuana patient and caregiver cards in a timely matter, and meeting legislative reporting requirements.

When it came to enforcement actions, the audit said the CRA appropriately documented and communicated results and followed up on non-compliance for all inspections received. It also ensured testing labs completed annual proficiency tests and followed up on all issues identified with the labs. [Read More @ The Detroit Free Press]