Class Action Lawsuit : Raw Garden Alleged Misleading Packaging - DabConnection.pdf (479.2 KB)
Interesting. Select (Curaleaf) does the exact same thing. A distillate cart with steamed fresh terps, and call it “refined live resin” and sell em for ~$100/gram
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Don’t lie about what you put in your carts so you don’t worry about getting sued. Seems like a pretty simple concept to me.
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I guess it’s a matter of interpretation or blatant misinformation.
That is blatant misrepresentation of the product. Distillate does not equal live resin. Live extracted terps do not equal live resin either.
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i tend to fall into that camp as well. theyll argue that its not live resin, but refined live resin 
you hit the nail on the head…“refined”. Quotes from the complaint are posted in italics.
The Complaint
Raw Garden, a DBA for Central Coast Agriculture LLC, has well-loved cannabis vape pens and a strong following. The following included the plaintiff in the complaint. The plaintiff claims that he purchased the Raw Garden vape cartridge and paid a premium price for the products because he believed them to contain Live Resin. The complaint states the plaintiff would not have purchased the product if he knew it was made with distillates and reintroduced terpenes.
The complaint alleges that Raw Garden creates the vape pen cartridges by making Live Resin, distilling it, and adding terpenes back into this distillate. The company then packages and sells the resulting liquid as a “refined” Live Resin vape cartridge according to the complaint. The complaint continues to allege that the liquid used in Raw Garden’s “Live Resin” cartridge is not Live Resin because it has been distilled and despite the re-addition of terpenes, it does not contain all the organic compounds that are in a true Live Resin.
Distillates vs. Live Resin: What’s the difference?
Dabconnection.com explains, distillates focus on retaining the strength and purity of cannabis concentrate. Taste and flavor are not a priority. The distillation extraction process requires a solvent such as CO2, butane or ethanol, pressure, steam, and heat.
Cannabis is harvested, dried, and cured. A very cold solvent is run through room temperature cannabis. The cannabis is soaked in the solvent, then broken up while keeping the solvent extremely cold. The mixture is then filtered to remove the plant, heated to remove the solvent and distilled to create a pure oil. Terpenes, phytonutrients, and other chemicals are destroyed or burned off by the process.
Live Resin focuses on retaining all flavors of the original plant, creating a more potent product. It requires heat before it will have any medicinal or psychoactive effect.
It’s a relatively new technique, developed in 2013. Freshly harvested cannabis is cryogenically frozen, retaining its terpene profile, original flavor, and fragrance throughout the extraction process and into the final product. It is extracted with butane, and then the butane is purged with warm water (45°F max). The remainder of the butane is then purged using a vacuum chamber. This process results in a preserved terpene profile.
Conclusion
If the complaint is correct and the company creates a Live Resin and distills it, do you think “refined Live Resin” is an accurate product description? With July’s cannabis sales in California’s regulated market hitting $348 million, it’s clear the industry has matured. Business owners need to be extremely careful with packaging, ensuring they can back up all claims in a court of law.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. This article outlines Inkbrite’s internal policies and should not be interpreted as legal guidance. For legal counsel, please contact your attorney.
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If they took live resin and made distillate out of it, it is no longer live resin (and I don’t even think they did that). Seems pretty simple to me. Nothing refined about what they are doing.
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I doubt consumers even know what live resin is
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That doesn’t matter. What matters is that the processors, producers, and packagers are obligated to know better and appropriately represent their products.
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"Select Elite Live Cartridges are now available!
What is a live Extract?
Live extracts are infused with live terpenes derived from fresh, frozen flower. This combination better represents the essence of the living plant, with a higher terpene content providing enhanced flavor profiles."
this is the definition of scummy marketing imo. worded just right to likely avoid a lawsuit (but maybe not according to this news!)
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actually Curaleaf/Select is calling them enhanced live resin **
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I could tear that argument apart in court, and I’m not a lawyer. “Live extracts” implies they are extracting from a fresh plant and has no bearing on what kind/type of terps are added after the fact. If they don’t do that, they’re lying about what their product is. Case closed. Send me a portion of the prosecution’s retainer, please.
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just to play devils advocate
they do this. only for the terps tho!
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I think this isn’t going to hold much water because these terms are not codified anywhere. Shit, even distillate is vague because it’s can technically describe anything which has been through solvent recovery. “live” and “resin” are even worse. We all understand it’s misrepresentation but I doubt the courts will agree with that
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blue river terps does the exact same thing. Ive been banned from Trulieve’s ig for bringing up something similar. Tons of companies do this shit. Now here is another scenrio…
If your carts are 50/50 Live resin/distillate. whats it called or better yet. 55/45?
Live resin in carts aint that great and distillate mixed with a high % of LR i feel is personally better.
Id personally like to see at least 35% THCa in order to be called a live resin cart.
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Only saw your edit after I posted. It still isn’t live resin of any sort, as far as I am concerned. If I take water and make bourbon with it, is it now just “refined water”? Hell no. It’s now bourbon. Live resin that has been distilled is distillate.
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I would disagree in that if I distill solvent from crude, the solvent was distilled, not crude. In order for a product to be considered distilled, at least as I see it, the product must undergo phase change, and it is the recovered (distilled) product that now carries the label of being distilled.
Back to whiskey, would you consider the leftover mash to be distilled or only what comes out of the condenser on the other end, @SidViscous?
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So what should a live resin cart be in a perfect world? Something similar to the NP-710 stuff that the wook puts out? Centrifuged diamonds that are decarbed and have terps reintroduced?