Pot producer fighting to keep its license

Mother Earth Herbs accused of falsifying audit, failing to produce related receipts

The state Health Department is moving to revoke the license of a medical cannabis producer with dispensaries in Las Cruces and Albuquerque, saying the company submitted falsified audit reports.

Mother Earth Herbs denies the allegation and has requested a hearing to contest the revocation.

The license revocation, if upheld, would be the first for a pot producer since the state created the medical cannabis program in 2007, according to the Health Department.

In a letter dated Jan. 10, program Director Kenny Vigil advised Vivian Moore, executive director of Mother Earth Herbs, that the Health Department planned to revoke the producer’s license and ban Moore from working for any other program licensee.

Vigil said his office in August received a complaint alleging that an audit submitted in 2015 by Moore on behalf of Mother Earth Herbs was falsified.

The certified public accountant who was identified in the audit as the author said he didn’t complete the audit or sign it, according to Vigil’s letter.

The CPA also was listed as the author of an audit for Mother Earth Herbs that was submitted in 2014, although the accountant said he had last completed an audit for the

producer in 2013, the letter said.

Vigil also wrote Moore had repeatedly failed to meet deadlines to produce audit-related receipts and other documentation requested by the Health Department as part of its investigation.

“The Department has evidence which, if not rebutted or explained, will justify imposition of the proposed disciplinary action” against Moore and Mother Earth Herbs, Vigil wrote.

Thomas R.A. Limón, an attorney for Mother Earth Herbs, declined to comment Tuesday on the specifics of the fraud allegations but urged people not to rush to judgment.

“These allegations are simply allegations. Mother Earth denies them,” Limón said.

He said the audit-related records requested by the Health Department are in the process of being produced as best they can.

Moore couldn’t be reached for comment.

Licensed medical cannabis producers are required to submit annual audits to the Health Department. The audits must be conducted by independent certified public accountants.

The Santa Fe Reporter newspaper reported in 2006 that Moore was a certified public accountant and had a “side business” of conducting audits for other licensed medical cannabis producers.

Moore told the New Mexico Political Report news organization in 2016 that there was a lack of CPAs who were qualified or willing to perform audits on producers.

An outside lawyer will serve as the hearing officer for the protest by Mother Earth Herbs and Moore of the proposed disciplinary action. The attorney will then make a written recommendation to Health Secretary Lynn Gallagher, who will make the final decision on the matter, according to the Health Department.

Mother Earth Herbs, which has been in business since 2010, is licensed by the department to produce 450 plants. It began with a dispensary in Las Cruces and expanded to Albuquerque last year.

Mother Earth Herbs is one of 35 licensed pot producers serving nearly 48,000 medical cannabis patients in New Mexico. The overwhelming majority of the patients are enrolled in the program for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder or severe chronic pain.

Contact Thom Cole at 505-9863022 or tcole@sfnewmexican.com.