Marijuana company to pay $350,000 after Holyoke employee’s death

A marijuana company will pay $350,000 in a settlement with the state’s Cannabis Control Commission after an employee who worked at a cultivation site in Holyoke died of an asthma attack.

Trulieve, which closed its three Massachusetts dispensaries last year and no longer operates in the state, is a Florida-based cannabis company with dispensaries in nine states. OSHA previously fined the company nearly $15,000 in relation to the employee’s death for failing to conduct a hazard analysis.

Lorna McMurrey, 27, collapsed at the facility twice because of severe asthma attacks, including a fatal one in 2022, according to a wrongful death suit her family filed in Hampden Superior Court. While McMurrey was filling pre-rolls at the facility, she was inhaling ground cannabis dust, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation found.

Cannabis Control Commission fines Trulieve $350,000

The CCC voted 4-0 to approve the agreement with Trulieve, which stipulated the $350,000 fine and for Trulieve to provide safety data sheets to the commission. 

Trulieve will be required to share safety data sheets for ground or powdered cannabis, harvested cannabis, and live cannabis plants, as well as safety bulletins for visitor cannabis allergen awareness, for allergen awareness, and a draft example of standard operating procedures for cannabis allergen. 

“As an agency, the Cannabis Control Commission is here to make sure that licensees operate safely, not only for the public but also for their employees,” one of the commissioners said. “Although we cannot go back and rewrite the past … We are contributing to a better and safer industry throughout the country, not only here in the Commonwealth.”

Trulieve called McMurrey’s asthma attacks ‘personal health issue(s)’

On the day of her second asthma attack, McMurrey used her inhaler and appeared short of breath before she lost consciousness, according to the CCC. She died three days later at the hospital. 

Before McMurrey’s death, the commission was already investigating employee complaints about the Holyoke facility, and Trulieve was cited for six violations. 

The CCC also determined that Trulieve did not have records of any safety audits conducted for six months leading up to McMurrey’s death, and even though the cannabis dust was identified as a potential hazard, masks were not required for employees.

Additionally, Trulieve didn’t follow up with McMurrey after she collapsed the first time while at work. The CCC writes that Trulieve didn’t evaluate marijuana dust as an allergen that would require a respirator. After both asthma attacks, Trulieve called her medical emergencies “personal health issue(s),” according to the CCC.

The wrongful death lawsuit, which names Trulieve and its HVAC contractors, is ongoing.

Trulieve did not respond to a request for comment Monday night.