An Illinois-based trucker has recently filed a class-action suit in Chicago against the Florida-based CBD gummy manufacturer ‘Just Brands USA’ after losing his job due to a failed drug test. According to the driver, Trevor Darrow, the JustCBD gummies he purchased, manufactured by ‘Just Brands USA’, had a “No THC” label on the package, indicating that the gummies did not contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound that cannabis drug tests detect.
“At first I thought there was some kind of mistake the lab had made,” Darrow told ABC7 News. “There’s a symbol on the label that states that there’s no THC in the product itself,” he said. However, after using the CBD gummies for two weeks, Darrow failed a drug test due to testing positive for THC, and subsequently lost his job.
Darrow’s attorney, David Fish, said the label advertisements were false, since ‘JustCBD’ products contain THC, arguing that Just Brands USA had violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Trade Practices Act by labelling their CBD candy products “No THC”, even though the products do actually contain the compound.
“What it said on the label was ‘no THC.’ So Trevor bought these gummies specifically because it said no THC. He, as a truck driver, knows that he can’t take THC, so he bought the specific product it said no THC.”
David Fish, trucker Darrow’s attorney
Darrow said he had been working as a truck driver for over 10 years and had never failed a drug test. According to the lawsuit filed in October, Darrow had purchased the CBD gummy watermelon rings last July to manage his sleep problems. “One or two gummies per night knocked me right out and I slept throughout the entire night,” he said. “And for two weeks I was taking the product and that is the result of the failed drug test.”
A spokesperson for the firm Just Brands said the lawsuit “has no merit.” Although the company has not denied that there is THC in its products, it maintains that its products are manufactured within “current laws and regulations.”
“Just CBD takes great pride in the quality of its products, its testing protocols and uses isolate based products, which do not contain THC above .3%, which is consistent with current laws and regulations,” said the statement released by Just Brands USA. Moreover, the spokesperson added, “It is also worth noting that drug tests administered by employers vary greatly in their accuracy and sensitivity to a number of chemical compounds, recreational or pharmaceutical drugs that could result in a positive finding of THC.”
The class-action lawsuit filed by Darrow is currently open to anyone who has purchased Just CBD products with the “no THC” label in the last three years. “It boils down to this,” Fish said. “There needs to be federal labeling. Consumers, including truck drivers, need to know what they are getting into before they buy something.”
