Cannabis grower Riverview Farms slapped with $400,000 fine for illegal extraction work.

Monterey County cannabis grower Riverview Farms has paid a whopping $400,000 fine after a routine fire department inspection found the company was extracting THC from plants without proper licensing.

The fine, which comes via an agreement between Riverview Farms and the Monterey County District Attorney's Office, was paid earlier this month, on April 16, but announced via a DA press release today, April 22.

The civil settlement stems from an inspection conducted in July 2019, during which Monterey County Regional Fire Department marshals found evidence that Riverview was extracting THC from cannabis flower using a chemical extraction process, but without a manufacturer's license in place. Extraction is done to separate cannabinoids and terpenes from plant material; the extractions are then used to create other products, including edibles and oils.

"The fire department noticed the equipment necessary to extract THC, and large amounts of ethanol, and that started the investigation," says Deputy District Attorney Greg Peterson. "Our office got a warrant to search the location and found everything the fire department told us we would."

Riverview, he adds, is no longer extracting. 

"They did the extraction clean, and to be blunt, they did it safe. Had they used butane, it would have been a hazardous process," Peterson says. Rather than getting permits following the investigation, though, "They took the opposite route and decided it wasn't profitable and decided not to pursue extracting THC."

Attorney Larry Biegel, who represents Riverview, says the company cooperated with the investigation and took it seriously.

”They had a permit to do extraction but that permit had lapsed,” Biegel says. “They had been trying to get Regional Fire out there to approve the lab they had so they were compliant, but ultimately we were operating without a license.

”They’ve learned their lesson and put this behind them,” he said.

While the Riverview fine was sizable, it's not close to the largest obtained by the DA's office in cannabis investigations. In March 2020, the office obtained a $1.2 million fine from California's Top Shelf and California's Top Shelf Family for various violations arising out of a routine site inspection by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. When a site is located near a riparian habitat or other environmentally sensitive location, the department may inspect to ensure there's no threat to wildlife.

In the case of that inspection at 25950 and 26000 Encinal Road, inspectors found the grow far exceeded the allowed 10,000 square feet of canopy; while law enforcement then advised the owners to cease operations and not move any plants, employees were found trying to relocate plants in the middle of the night.