In March 2022, Colorado public health officials started getting reports of liver damage linked to a popular marijuana-based sleep aid called 1906 Midnight Drops. The product had become one of the top-selling items in the state’s legal cannabis market. However, the state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED), responsible for regulating the industry, did not issue a formal warning until June 2023—nearly 15 months later. The delay came after the manufacturer, Sima Sciences, stopped production due to reports of "acute liver injury." This situation exposed weaknesses in the system for protecting consumers in the nation’s first regulated recreational marijuana market. The health complaints led the division to investigate, but the agency lacked the authority to remove the product from stores. The MED took four months after the first report of liver damage to post a notice on its website, but it was labeled an "informational notification" rather than a health and safety warning. The notice stated that regulators found no violations and that the manufacturer had reformulated the product, with no additional issues reported. However, this approach did not clearly warn the public of the potential dangers. Jenifer Chatting, a surgical assistant, began using Midnight Drops in the same month that the state health department received its first complaint. She continued using the product for nine months, unaware of the enforcement division’s notification, until her dispensary stopped stocking them. She later discovered she had liver damage and was told she would need a transplant. According to a joint investigation by the Denver Gazette and ProPublica, the MED has limited authority to force companies to recall products. Instead, it relies on posting health and safety advisories and sending news releases to local media. In cases where the news organizations identified the date of a complaint or the start of an investigation, it took regulators an average of more than seven months to issue a warning. This delay means contaminated products often remain on sale for a long time without public warnings. The delays are partly due to Colorado’s lack of measures adopted in other legalized marijuana markets to improve testing procedures and prevent contaminated products from reaching stores. While the MED can now place holds on products over safety concerns, the time to warn consumers after the first complaint and after a product goes on sale has increased. Sima Sciences, the manufacturer of Midnight Drops, began receiving complaints shortly after launching the product in 2019. The company reformulated the product and added a warning label, but regulators concluded that the new herbal supplement was primarily composed of a compound linked to liver risks. Dr. David Cristin, a gastroenterologist, reported to the enforcement division that he continued to see an uptick in patients with elevated liver enzymes, which he believed were caused by Midnight Drops. He warned the agency that he had seen four such patients in the past two months and knew of other doctors treating more. He said his patients kept using the product despite his concerns. By May 2024, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment had received 52 reports of harm involving Midnight Drops, at least 20 of which required medical care. Of those reports, 25 occurred before the MED’s second notification. The Chattings are suing the company, which has denied their claims. The lawsuit is pending. Chatting’s husband, Luke, is critical of what he calls insufficient warnings about Midnight Drops. He said the state makes millions from marijuana taxes but does not regulate effectively. Colorado operates largely on an honor code, with manufacturers free to choose the samples and labs that conduct contaminant tests required before products can be sold. The state also allows manufacturers to test their products less frequently if they can show consistent compliance, something only one other state does. Colorado regulators have historically relied on complaints to identify tainted marijuana once it is in the marketplace, rather than randomly sampling products on shelves. The Cannabis Regulators Association recommends random sampling, and other states like Oklahoma have such programs. Colorado only this year launched a pilot program to randomly sample dispensary products, but the program has run into delays, and the state hasn’t identified a long-term funding source. Once a contaminated product gets to dispensaries, Colorado regulators face challenges in getting the product off the shelves. Colorado expects manufacturers to voluntarily recall products, but regulators can only force recalls in a public health emergency, which can be difficult to establish quickly. Even when testing finds contaminants, manufacturers say marijuana that’s already in dispensaries often remains for sale. That’s because Colorado allows the manufacturer to retest the marijuana, and the rules don’t specify a time frame for when those tests have to be done. In contrast, Missouri immediately puts a hold on all marijuana products that fail mandatory contaminant testing. Manufacturers there can have the products reanalyzed, but dispensaries can’t sell those products until retesting shows the original analysis was incorrect. Tess Eidem, a research professor at the University of Colorado, said she worries the state prioritizes protecting the financial viability of the marijuana market over consumer safety. She pointed out that the MED isn’t part of the state’s health department but instead is in the state’s revenue department. Draper said that "consumer safety has been and remains a top priority for the Division." Barsoom and his companies settled with the attorney general’s office to resolve the office’s investigation. Barsoom and his companies denied that they had violated consumer protection laws but agreed to pay $400,000 in fines and the settlement bars them from selling cannabis products in Colorado until at least 2027. Barsoom also agreed to issue an apology.