First Wrongful Death Suit For Marijuana

The manufacturer of a marijuana confection in Colorado has been sued, in what the Los Angeles Times is calling the first wrongful death lawsuit to hit the industry. It was filed in the name of the surviving children of a woman who was murdered by her husband. It’s alleged that after eating some of the product he began to act strangely, talking about the end of the world and asking to be killed himself, before getting a gun out of a safe and killing his wife with a single shot, as the children huddled nearby. “The packaging and labeling for the potent candy contained no directions, instructions or recommendations respecting the product’s proper consumption or use,” according to the complaint. Commenting on the lawsuit, a University of Denver professor who studies marijuana policy said it’s a sign of “growing pains” in a maturing industry. The suit comes in the context of allegations by critics that state regulators in Colorado have been lax in regulating marijuana pesticide and herbicide use. In October of last year, plaintiffs in Colorado filed a putative class action alleging that residue of a fungicide used in cannabis cultivation was released when the product was smoked, resulting in the inhalation of hydrogen cyanide. But earlier this year that lawsuit was dismissed on the grounds the plaintiffs could not show actual harm.