Michigander thrives as a cannabis tester, breaks down barriers for Latinos in the industry

Many years ago, Jorge Lerma came home from a 12-hour workday at his construction job. He was exhausted and filthy. And when he got home, his mother said as much. “Wow, you look a mess,” she said, with Lerma responding with “I feel terrible. Mom, I hate this job.” She suggested he find a new job, but Jorge responded that construction is all he knew. But he knew this was not what he wanted to do his whole life. His mother said he should go back to school and asked what he had a passion for. He responded with weightlifting and growing plants. Since there were not many opportunities to make money with weightlifting, she suggested attending Michigan State University for horticulture. Now, he is a vital part of Viridis, the largest marijuana testing companies in the state of Michigan run by ex-members of the Michigan State Police Department. Now not only does he get to work in a field he is passionate about, but also has opportunities to help break down barriers in the industry for the Latino community.

Andrew Mullin | Michigan Green State

Lerma began his college career not as a science student, but as an economics student at a community college, and eventually he went back to construction. He eventually found himself going back to school at Lansing Community College where he joined the LUCERO program, which aims to create positive connection for Latino students. It also helps with recruitment, retention, graduation and transferring. At LCC, Lerma met with a professor who helped him apply for classes, which he aced. His professor urged him to apply for scholarships and taught him how to, which led him to MSU.

Scientist Brittany Knutson works at the Viridis Testing lab on July 26, 2021.

Learning the trade

“(He) showed me how this was bigger for us as a culture and for Latinos for me to go to school,” Lerma said. He began attending MSU as part of the horticultural program, the science of high intensity growing of high-value crops, Lerma said. He also learned agronomy, which studies field crops. In horticulture, Lerma said people learn how to manipulate plants and grow the plant in different ways. Whether it is by heat, light, water or temperature, it is a hard science-based program, he said. Members of the Latinx community in horticulture at MSU were few in numbers when he attended though, with Lerma being one of three Latino students in all the plant-based science programs. He said this might be because of stereotypes associated with growing plants and the Latinx community. “I think that we didn't have a lot of exposure in it as Latinos,” Lerma said. “Historically, we are the ones out there picking. There is probably a little bit of discontent of, ‘Man, they think about that, I don't want to. I'm not trying to be outside picking strawberries or blueberries or whatever.’ I've had a love for it, so I went into it.”

Growing plants, and the science behind it, is a life-long passion for Lerma, he said. One of his first memories was growing flowers with his grandma and he loved growing gardens. He was expanding his knowledge in the classroom, but he was also learning from outside the classroom too. By the time he was in college, medical marijuana was legal in the mitten state. Lerma said the state enacted a caregiver model in 2008 (when medical marijuana was legalized in Michigan) that allowed people to grow marijuana medically for patients or themselves. He met people who grew for this model and through them, he learned more about this burgeoning industry. “I started reading everything that I could and just getting more and more active in the community,” Lerma said. “I knew this day was coming, so I set myself up for it.” After graduating from MSU, Lerma was a skilled horticulturist, with a self-taught specialty in marijuana. Soon, he would have a place to apply his craft.

Formation and functions of Viridis

Working for ex-members of the Michigan State Police Department to test marijuana products might sound far-fetched, but that is the scenario Lerma finds himself in today. Todd Welch is the chief operating officer of Viridis, but also happens to be a former part of the forensic science division for MSPD, along with the CEO. The chief science officer was also part of the department’s toxicology division. After he retired from MSPD, Welch said his next step was a natural one: testing cannabis. Through his experience at the police department, he knew how to get accurate test results, avoid cross-contamination and build a proper lab. This experience gave him a unique set of opportunities with Michigan’s growing cannabis market. With people starting to grow and produce marijuana products in one of the most regulatory states for cannabis in the country, Welch and his partners decided to open a marijuana testing company near in 2017. Lerma said before any marijuana product can go to market, it has to be tested first. At Viridis, the company tests gummies, plants, waxes and other products, primarily working with cultivators and processors. Welch said they can turn around testing samples in three and a half to four days.

Viridis now stands as the most experienced and largest testing lab in the state, Welch said, testing 67% of marijuana flowers in the Michigan market. The company operates out of two labs near Lansing and Bay City. Once a sample is received, labs test for metals, pesticides, pathogens, wood shavings, moisture and plastics. They test them to see if these products are below the state thresholds for these materials. However, Viridis doesn’t just pack up the numbers and ship it back to suppliers. When Lerma joined Viridis as a horticultural scientist, he made it a priority to be a source of information and help as a scientist for Viridis’s clients. If a sample has too much metal present for instance, he will look at the results and call the grower/processor to figure out what might be going wrong. “Because of my position as a horticultural scientist, I am seeing problems and issues that might take somebody else 10, 15, or 20 years before they have ever seen these types of problems,” Lerma said. Lerma has answered emergencies from growers near midnight panicking that their grow system was critically malfunctioning, he said. He is honored that clients would think of him when needing help with their operation. Chris Jackson is a partner with Sticky Dispensaries in Michigan and is on the National Cannabis Industry Association. While dispensaries do not directly work with testers, Jackson said what Lerma and Viridis do is important for them because it ensures safety for the consumers. “Even though we do not necessarily have a direct relationship to the lab, everything that we ultimately put in our store, it is in relationship to what the lab has approved of or not approved of,” Jackson said. Lerma is happy that he is able to work with his passion. “I did not get in this to talk about things or to brag,” Lerma said. “I love my job. I love what I do. I truly feel blessed.”

Breaking barriers

While more Latinos are starting to enter the field, Lerma wants more Latinx people entering the realm of cannabis and/or hard sciences. Viridis employs 45-50 scientists, yet he rarely gets other Latinx people applying. He said when he was at school, it seemed to him that many Latinos were going into social sciences and not hard sciences, such as horticulture. “I'm in the (cannabis) industry and I'm out here with boots on the ground every day” Lerma said. “I have rarely ever met another Latino scientist.” The industry is slowly beginning to shift though, Lerma said. There was a point in time where his teams were made up of over 60% minorities. He employed people who were Black, Latino, women and Native Americans. “In our (company), you have to have a four-year degree in hard science or better,” Lerma said. “There are not a lot of minorities with these types of degrees, so it is not like being able to pick straws out of a bale. You have to really look. I was blessed to have an opportunity to give some of these people jobs, and (they) have excelled.”

As a successful scientist and member of the cannabis industry, Lerma said he hopes other Latinos will see him and think they can do this too. Jackson, who is a Black, said having himself and Lerma being successful in the industry can set a tone to help minorities and women break into an infant industry. He also said there should be legislation passed to provide opportunities for people who have been disproportionately affected in the past. Lerma takes part in Latino mentoring programs at MSU along with meeting with LCC officials about how to recruit more Latinos. He is also a member of the Michigan chapters of Minorities in Medical Marijuana. The lack of Latinx representation does not deter Lerma from the industry. It drives him to push for it more. “I feel motivated to try to get more Latinos into this industry, however that might be,” Lerma said. “I am just one person. I cannot come out here and change the world, but you know what, I can start doing little things to help out.”

There are not a lot of minorities with these types of degrees, so it is not like being able to pick straws out of a bale. You have to really look. I was blessed to have an opportunity to give some of these people jobs, and (they) have excelled.

—Jorge Lerma

Scientist Evan Clarke works at the Viridis Testing lab on July 26, 2021.

Lab technician Kyleigh Cumming works at the Viridis Testing lab on July 26, 2021.

Jorge Lerma poses in front of the Viridis cannabis testing lab on July 26, 2021. Lerma is the horticultural scientist at the company.

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