Wait, isn't pyrethrin a pesticide that can be used on organic crops?

And doesn't smoking cause cancer?

we DO want to know what's in our marijuana products... so we know for example that with I502 hash oil one is also smoking ACETONE... LOOK AT THE DATA. imaginary.solutions

we DO want to know what's in our marijuana products... so we know for example that with I502 hash oil one is also smoking ACETONE... LOOK AT THE DATA. www.imaginary.solutions

One of the best articles I've read in this paper. This horticulturally-savvy reader says: Bravo. Well researched and informative.

What in the hell is wrong with the idea of GMO weed? Given the huge variety in cultivars, wouldn't you want *more* control over the proportions of mind altering substances you put into your body, not less?

How, oh how I wish that I had a dollar for every person who eats organic that doesn't realise organic farmers use pesticides too. I would be soooo rich...

This is a great article! I've taken the state pesticide exam and also studied pest management in school so I was impressed. Proper use of the "right" pesticides is necessary in any agricultural production which is why regulation and education of the public is so important. I gave you some crap last week with the pike place market article so I'm happy to say that you did a great job here.

The author apparently didn't do much research on this story...at all. The LCB has never bothered to set up standards for pesticide testing, so the suggestion that you'll be "safer" if you get your pot from a recreational store is just bullshit. Analytical CAN'T test your weed for pesticide and it doesn't test ANY recreational weed for pesticide. And if you don't think that there are recreational growers who are spraying they mite infested weed with Avid, a level 2 toxin, just days before harvest, you're just kidding yourself.

The myth that recreational pot is "safer cause it's tested" was started by the Liquor Control Board to cover up their own failure to establish pesticide testing standards. Don't believe me? Can Analytical 360, or any of the recreational testing labs, and ask them about the LCB's pesticide testing standards. Then let me know how much "safer" you think you are spending 3 times as much for recreational pot.

What else would you expect from the Stranger....the biggest cheerleader for I-502 in Washington?

I read with interest your article, which hit on some obvious points about pesticide use in cannabis production, but was disappointed at the lack of mention of the use of synthetic growth regulators in cannabis production. Beyond a lack of a regulatory and analytical framework to determine pesticide contamination in what the state would have us believe is OK for medicinal marijuana users, commonly used "production aids" are known to contain the synthetic plant growth regulator paclobutrazol and/or daminozide (also known as ALAR….remember ALAR and apples?) The insidious, if not evil aspect of this is that because paclobutrazol does not have an EPA registration for use on ANY CROP THAT IS TO BE INGESTED. Worse, they are being added to these products without acknowledgement (see link). Both California and Oregon have banned the sale of these materials, but they are still widely available on the internet, and I have recently seen them for sale in a grow shop in Central Washington.

These materials were the subject of a lot of research by the USDA during the 80s and 90s for fruit and vegetable production, but this research was abandoned in part because of the persistence of paclobutrazol and damionozide in the environment and in the plants themselves (up to 4 years in apple trees) and the failure of the materials to pass out of the mammalian toxicity tests, where liver damage was reported. Cancer is not the only thing you should be concerned about vis a vis pesticide contamination.

Because the state has taken ownership of cannabis production and is expecting to sell their cannabis to medical cannabis patients, it seems a glaring omission to not have a set of defined protocols, assays and standards for pesticide and other chemical contaminants. I would never purchase state-grown cannabis until such safeguards are in place.

http://www.marijuanagrowershq.com/plant-…

Google paclobutrazol and california or oregon…the link I posted did not make it into the post.

What sort of pests are the plants subject to?
How much do they affect the crop?
We are insect phobic in this country, but we love our poisons.
I think we have it backwards.

Let the government protect you, like they protected you from marijuana for years. What a sick joke. There are more pesticides on a sack of potatoes than in any dispensary. Marijuana is grown indoors. It is a closed environment that can be fumigated before any plants are brought in, which virtually eliminates the need for any pesticides applied to the crop. That mold they scare you with? Did you ever smoke Colombian Gold or Panama Red? Their color was the result of the harvest being stacked in piles that began to compost, consuming the chlorophyll. Like the white rind on brie or the blue in blue cheese, the mold actually improved the product. Nobody got sick or died. The worst known poisoning of marijuana was when the US government sprayed Paraquat on Mexican marijuana. So much for the government protecting smokers. Lately The Stranger seems to be a shill for the profit heavy conservative business modeled recreational marijuana industry. Follow the advertizing money trail.

The author apparently didn't do much research on this story...at all. The LCB has never bothered to set up standards for pesticide testing, so the suggestion that you'll be "safer" if you get your pot from a recreational store is just bullshit. Analytical CAN'T test your weed for pesticide and it doesn't test ANY recreational weed for pesticide. And if you don't think that there are recreational growers who are spraying they mite infested weed with Avid, a level 2 toxin, just days before harvest, you're just kidding yourself.

The myth that recreational pot is "safer cause it's tested" was started by the Liquor Control Board to cover up their own failure to establish pesticide testing standards. Don't believe me? Can Analytical 360, or any of the recreational testing labs, and ask them about the LCB's pesticide testing standards. Then let me know how much "safer" you think you are spending 3 times as much for recreational pot.

What else would you expect from the Stranger....the biggest cheerleader for I-502 in Washington?

Tobias ia a gullible fool, all weed is treated with toxic illiagle miticides, otherwise you would be smoking little shriveled up buds with mites crawling on them. Ladybugs just fly away and could never combat a real mite infestation. If done correctly, only used in the vegetative stage, the harmful products will not be present in the final product due to the fact that they only remain in the plant for 40 to 50 days and in takes 60 to get to harvest. WSLCB are complicit fools. Wake up, fight back, don't buy weed with bar codes.

tobias would know, seeing as he has his own illegal grow op. the stranger should really do a better job of vetting its "journalists"

READING THIS ARTICLE MADE MY EAT A BABY AND MURDER A HOOKER. 9-11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB. JET FUEL CAN'T MELT STEEL BEAMS! DO THE RESEARCH PEOPLE! JEWS DID 9-11, ARABS ONLY DO 7-11!

Tobias is also lieing terribly. They used a plethora of approved chemicals on their "product" but they wouldn't be able to tell you what was applied or when because nothing was properly documented In the first place. Phil would be the last one who knows what is or is not happening on a daily basis because he is rarely involved directly with the operation of the business. Absentee owner.

His place burned down because he hired his hillbilly kids and their 3-fingered friend to run the operation without any indoor growing (or electrical) experience or training whatsoever. They were also involved in a fire in their home last year around this time. Coincedence? Doubtful.

I would love to see not only the LCB audit their operation, but also OSHA, L&I, EPA and may as well throw the IRS in there too. THE most half-assed operation under I502 who didn't find a corner along the way that they didn't mind cutting.

They should take last week's fire as a sign and just sell the business.

Why is your font so goddamn big. /eyeroll I had to use my mouse wheel to zoom out. It was very arduous.

Good article.

The article mentions a grower who uses "ionized water" as a disinfectant. A Woodinville company, Briotech USA, makes a version of this that is being used by a big grower back east to replace bleach disinfectant, they are VERY happy with it. The "ionized water" is stabilized Hypochlorous Acid (HOCl) a form of electrolyzed salt water, totally safe and non toxic, kills every bacteria mold and virus it touches, can be sprayed on people. Briotech is looking for WA growers to test it here. If you are an active grower using disinfectants and want to try a free sample, contact Briotech direct on their website.