Earlier this month, state officials announced one of Colorado’s largest-ever recalls of marijuana products, affecting 172 stores across the state, from Denver to Pueblo to Breckenridge. 

Batches of green buds and hash-infused pre-roll joints from a large grower, 710 Labs, exceeded mold and yeast limits, according to state officials.

The recall, the latest in a series of widespread safety actions impacting hundreds of cannabis retailers in the state, comes at a particularly difficult time for the industry. And the action, with little publicity or transparency, renewed questions from industry watchers about whether cannabis is being monitored closely enough to be considered safe for the consumer.  

Colorado marijuana regulators don’t list the volume of cannabis recalled from year to year, so it’s unknown if this is the largest recall in state history. But a CPR News analysis of recall notices shows that the total number of stores affected by recalls has grown substantially in 2025.

So far this year, a total of 465 stores have been named in recalls issued by Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division. Some stores are listed multiple times for different product recalls. Still, it’s the most stores affected since at least 2023, when 333 stores had products subject to recalls.

In June, Smokiez edible products in 85 stores were recalled due to the detection of a pesticide above state limits. At the beginning of this year, 58 stores were affected when products sold under the Bud & Mary’s Cannabis label were recalled for exceeding limits of total yeasts and molds.

The Marijuana Enforcement Division declined an interview request, citing an open investigation, and didn’t address specific questions about how the testing was conducted or whether there are any reports of illnesses related to the 710 Labs recall.

Many in the industry regard 710 Labs as a premium brand that expanded grow operations in recent years. The company started in Colorado in 2009, in the early days of medical dispensary legalization. It’s now owned by a holding company in Beverly Hills called Post Investment Group. 

The recalls come as Colorado’s marijuana industry suffers a prolonged downturn in prices due to a large expansion in grow operations during the pandemic years. That led to an oversupply of marijuana, crashing prices. Total cannabis sales last year were $1.4 billion, down 37 percent from 2021, when sales hit a record $2.2 billion.

The health of the industry matters to even non-cannabis users because taxes on marijuana pay for everything from building and fixing schools to anti-bullying and drug treatment programs.

710 Labs did not respond to requests for comment, but on its website, the company said the flower products and pre-rolled joints passed initial testing.

“Subsequently, some samples of these batches were collected at the retail level, re-tested and failed due to microbials exceeding acceptable limits. In an abundance of caution, this product is being removed from distribution,” according to the statement.

Simon Knobel, who co-founded a cannabis packaging company called Calyx Containers, wasn’t aware of specifics related to the 710 labs recall, but said generally, microbials can grow on products that were once clean.

“If humidity increases after the storage stage or during the storage stage, and there’s not the right atmospheric control or packaging being used, you could pass on your first set of tests, and then microbes and mold grow during that prolonged phase in the supply chain,” said Knobel.

Knobel said given the rock-bottom price for cannabis now, some companies may not be able to adhere to the highest safety protocols. “So there’s some incentives, potentially, to cut corners, especially when market suppression has gotten that low.”

Experts are concerned that recalls of cannabis products in Colorado are mostly voluntary. Tess Eidem, a senior research scientist at CU Boulder, said it’s unclear how effective these recalls are at getting contaminated products off the dispensary shelves. She said the state has denied her requests for that data.

“We want to know between the time that these products were recalled, how many products were still going out to consumers, because a lot of this is voluntary,” said Eidem.

Consumers are urged to follow the health and safety notices, but that’s not a straightforward process. The state’s recall advisory for 710 Labs, for instance, is difficult to understand. It appears to reference flower products, sold under names like Marshmallow OG and Rick Jamez #3. It also lists a “potential contamination” in products only identified by batch numbers, like “IJ000251.” 

710 Labs wrote in its own recall notice (apparently published more than a week before the state’s recall) that those products are the “Persy Doink” pre-rolls. Eidem said she doesn’t know what “potential contamination” even means, but she added that the state should be more specific about brands in its recall notices.

“Knowing the brand is really important for somebody who, maybe they smoked a joint weeks ago, and they felt sick afterwards, but then they threw the bottle away, but they might remember the brand name and so they could potentially connect that,” said Eidem.

There is no evidence that marijuana in Colorado is sickening wide swaths of users, and many inside and outside the industry say cannabis on the regulated market is far safer than unregulated products. But microbial contamination can be particularly dangerous for immunocompromised people. 

Colorado doesn’t require a root cause analysis of why molds or other contaminants are popping up in tests, so it’s unclear what in the growing process is leading to the growth of microbials.

710 Labs told Westword that Colorado’s standards for molds, like Aspergillus, are too strict compared to other states, but Eidem said that is not correct. Colorado’s limits are in line with other states.

And studies from Canada show that clean grow operations can control microbial growth with standard sanitary protocols.

“So it’s very doable,” she said.

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