Comments

1
This is what happens and what will continue to happen until it is treated as a serious crop by the academic and professional agriculture people. Also growers need to feel comfortable to contact extension agents and researchers for help and advice on dealing with pests and diseases and proper use of or non use of legal chemical products. All other farmers reach out so they should be able to too.
2
Just to be clear ...are the last pesticide results all illegal pesticides (or are some of them allowed)? I admit I'm not an expert but definitely wanna stop smoking toxic products!
3
It is almost like food and drug products, as well as agricultural products need some kind of regulatory body to ensure consumer safety.
4
Rick Snyder would be so proud.
5
The good news is that you can now use your exhaled pot smoke to fumigate for bed bugs.
6
Obviously high levels of potentially harmful pesticides are bad. But there is so much misinformation and inaccuracies in this article. It seems Tobias wants to be the whistle blower of the 502 industry, but he really needs to get his facts straight.

First the headline, these pesticides are not illegal, they are just not allowed for use on Marijuana by the WSDA. The word Illegal is not correct and is a alarmist trigger word meant to scare people. No one would go to jail for using these pesticides. These are not black market pesticides bought in some foreign country and shipped in illegally. They are all readily available at garden stores. So they are not illegal, they are just not allowed for use on Marijuana by the WSDA. Still they shouldn't be used if potentially harmful, but there are no studies or evidence of that and most of these have been used for decades in the illegal and medical markets. It's just coming to light now because the first and only lab in the State for testing marijuana just opened. And alternatively there are no studies that show high levels of allowed pesticides aren’t harmful either.

Second, most of the results of the 25 that you posted are EXTREMELY LOW (some are shockingly high admittedly) and well below the level the Oregon department of health allows registered medical patients in Oregon to consume safely, which in itself is extremely lower than allowed on food products. 48 parts per billion on a results? That has to be within the margin of error on the machine to doing the testing. I’m amused the lab said that test “failed” with a straight face. So lumping all the results in together is a bit dishonest. Some should have been called out for their shocking levels, but many are completely benign.

People should not think that just because a company came back with low levels of pesticides that it's "Toxic" or harmful. Not sure why Tobias wants to cause panic or anxiety about this issue. And that should have been called out specifically. And , just because some of the farms came back with "clean" results does not mean their product is really "clean" it just means it didn't contain one of the pesticides this lab was testing for, which are only 200 or so of the thousands available. It could still be swimming in "allowed" or other pesticides without your knowledge. So these results really prove nothing about safety, it’s a small glimpse into a few of the available pesticides on the market.

Fourth Clean Green and Certified Kind give you NO PROTECTION from pesticides. A farmer could still spray their crop and have either one of these certifications. Not sure why Tobias is pushing those certification groups, they have no teeth and no enforcement or accountability, those are really just marketing gimmicks for growers.

Fifth, who is the CCA? Did they submit any of their own products to testing? Did they submit "medical" products? Why these 25 products, was their something about the companies claims they were looking to refute or were these just chosen at random? Or were they chosen for a political purpose?

Sixth, none of these products are marketed or sold as "Medical". So the line about a patient being sold poison is sad, but not really honest. Also, there was never any pesticide testing in the Medical market and many of the farms on this list came from medical. So it's confusing why the CCA is trying to say that i502 is bad, but the medical system is good? 502 at least has testing now and some of the farms are starting to take proactive steps to clean up the industry, good for them.

7) There is not a Zero tolerance policy about trace contamination on marijuana from the State. The only law in i502 about pesticides is that farms cannot put any pesticides on the plants unless it's on the Department of Agricultures listed of approved pesticides for marijuana. There is not a statement anywhere about what happens if an pesticide are found in trace amounts nor levels which should be considered allowed. So the owner of a testing lab, the only one in the state, is making the assumption that if there are trace levels of an un-allowed pesticide that the product is bad. But in really many of these products are absolutely safe and have levels way below levels that could be considered Organic under FDA rules. https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/f… Again, many are terribly high and those companies need to pull those products off the shelf ASAP.

8) the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture are setting testing standards for the new "medical" market and products. So all this talk about how the market is fucking fucked because medical patients may be harmed is really an exaggeration. medical patients will have CLEANER products than the general public because of the mandatory testing being put in place.

It's great the CCA wanted to 'expose' the pesticide issue in 502, but wouldn't it be much better to be factual, and calm rather than alarmist about this issue? Calling out these 25 farms was meant to embarrass the farms, not fix the issue of pesticides. This article did nothing to inform the public of the facts, it is just intended to cause fear when there is no cause for concern on the majority of these products.
7
@2, none of these pesticides are illegal. They are just not approved for use on Marijuana. That is completely misleading by the author.
8
Holy shit Juju joints are just straight poison!?!
9
Doug's Killer Hash really lives up to its name. The race to the bottom for cheap weed will only make this problem worse. Financially stressed farmers will make difficult and dangerous decisions to stay afloat. Just like the food choices we make, some times paying a little extra for an all natural product is best.
10
#9 The only way a shop or consumer can really know if a product is "all natural" is to test it. There should be a better way.
11
looking at 502 - the only thing I see is a bunch of bad weed, wasteful packaging & lazy greedy growers - race to the bottom of your pesticide bottle - not for me! Homegrow for all & if your against a homegrow your a tool & you will fail! Without a Homegrow - we are basically prisoners of the state -
12
Also ALL pesticides are unacceptable for MJ grown for people!! - The thing is when you ignite anything that has any type of pesticide or fungicide in it -GAMECHANGE/CHEMICAL REACTION- you have created something new & deadly for your body (A chemical reaction is the change of a substance into a new one that has a different chemical identity.) - You know gas fumes are bad, you know that it pollutes the atmosphere, you continue to drive anyway - but you know you don't run the car in a closed garage. Time to evolve people -
13
will the stranger hire take_a_breath to write these articles instead, please?
14
@westseattlered - take_a_breath says on last week's thread - "stop fear mongering" -
they are either a 502 tool or an uneducated grower - they are a better pr person than a journalist - I appreciate these findings & not interested in more spin.
17
@14 and @15, facts are important. You have your right to oppose 502 for its short comings but throwing a bunch of hard working people under the bus by using misinformation and lazy journalism is totally wrong. Most of the people involved with 502 are just small business owners trying to get by.

Every piece of food you eat, the water you drink, the air you breath, everything has some level of dangerous substance in it. Just like carbon monoxide, you breath it in every day and its harmless, but at higher levels it can kill you. The key is to determine those levels and stay below them. There is no such thing as a pesticide free world, everything has some level of pesticides in it, again the key is to set the levels and stay below them.
20
Tobias - you have been doing great work to uncover this issue in your state. I work as a consultant to the industry and got my start in cannabis in Colorado, where we have had our own problems as you know. I used to manage a large indoor facility in Denver but left for consulting as I wanted to help curb illegal pesticide use and help the industry grow more responsibly (and yes, Take_a_breath, the use of these chemicals on cannabis is absolutely illegal as it is against both state and federal law to use pesticides in a way that violates label directions). Myself and my colleagues sit on panels at the CO Dept of Ag and Dept of Public Health and Environment and advocate for sensible standards to make sure product is safe for consumers. Also, please remember that this is not just a consumer safety issue but a worker safety issue as well. While we don't know what is safe to use on cannabis, but we do know that exposure to these chemicals can be harmful, especially if proper safety training and PPE is absent.

Cannabis can absolutely be grown without these chemicals. I've done it at home in a personal garden and I've done it in a warehouse with 3,500 plants. We help people to achieve that goal.

I prepared this paper to cut through some of the confusion: http://3ccannabis.com/images/3C_Pesticid… and also discuss the issue on my blog, cannabiscandor.com.

Tobias, please feel free to get in touch through my company's website, 3ccannabis.com or info@3ccannabis.com, if you would like perspective from Colorado on the pesticide issue from people who are involved directly in regulatory discussions as well as working on the ground. Thanks and keep up the great work.
23
Adam Koh - Application of the pesticides in a manner not on the label is illegal, not the pesticides themselves. The title says "Illegal Pesticides", that is factually not correct.
25
Take_a_breath: Typically, I choose to not be ravening in threads but you're so under my skin! You're such a fn douche!! At first, I thought maybe pr for Ian=Uncke Ike's, but now (thanks JakeGrows4) I'm convinced a lawyer bc you have a lot of time and spin and elect to attack.

Who's lazy here? I appreciate that Tobias has the tenacity to report this side of the commercial weed industry. He's doing us a huge benefit! This is not what we signed up for. Uncle Ike's=Ian, how does it feel to sell poison to this city? Bet it doesn't feel at all.đź’€

So glad those Dama and JuJu ads and billboards bugged me to the point I never purchased their toxicity. Solstice can F off too.

Westseattlered - you're also a douche.

Full disclosure - I'm pmsing.đź‘»
26
@lisasimpson - stay classy
27
@westseattlered - check out #killermike4.7.16, you'll learn something.
28
Thank you Tobias for updating the title.
29
You know what is really messed up? Is that The Stranger posts this article and doesn't mention that they wrote a glowing review of one of the worst offenders mentioned here, JuJu Joints, in October 2014. The Stranger should write a formal apology for promoting this brand that is led by a bunch of dishonest people only after the bottom line at any cost.
30
http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogim…

BBB Farms RSO has INSANE pesticide numbers and claims to be a "pesticide free hothouse" on Instagram... cunts
32
This is a prime example for why we need the right to grow our own, why are we the only state to Re-Legalize and not allow Adults to grow their own ?
36
@JakeGrow14 really good read on Martin & the state of this state - http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/20…
39
Tobias, The Clean Cannabis Association is a fake association, it doesn't exist, so who funded these tests?
40
So to recap we have:

1. Dr Gil Mobley outspoken opponent of i502, medical marijuana zealot (bffs with Steve Sarich) who personally demonstrated in front of Uncle Ike's in a hazmat suit, as the Dr. running the tests and verifying the results. 2. A non existent group called the Clean Cannabis Alliance which funded the testing. 3. A lab with financial interests in creating fear and uncertainty in the 502 market, which also employs a medical marijuana activist bent on destroying i502. 4. 25 test results that show some level of chemical contamination with no direction on what is acceptable. Seems this was more of a hit piece than a consumer protection article....
41
@take_a_breath - Who care who funded these tests?? WE ALL CARE - If you don't care, then you are an I-502 activist with financial interests in I-502 - Now that we know, these guys brands are crap - those who failed FAILED - If the LCB does not have the balls to test ALL MJ in the state - then the people should & disclose those findings - When those outspoken people were in hazmat suits out front of your Crazy Uncle Ike's, they were pointing out that most of this state sanctioned weed is BAD/POISONED & guess what??? It is! All MJ grown for human consumption should have zero pesticides (Like a few of those farms on the list).

@jakegrows14 - JuJu gets its flower from BMF & others & also JuJu is run by people who worked in big tobacco - so they are used to selling us poison - MJ is NOT Tobacco!
42
Thanks, take_a_breath, for summarizing your baseless apologetics for the pathetic job Washington State has done in their feeble attempt to legalize cannabis.
First up, you have markedly diminished authority (not to mention no back bone at all) without either identifying yourself personally or providing your scientific credentials. What is your occupation? What is your dog in the fight? We all assume your are an attorney defending an unscrupulous grower or the LCB. Or maybe you're one of the pesticide spewing bad-actor growers themselves.

Regarding my opposition to 502, perhaps you should review the record and my history. I am a staunch advocate for the complete legalization of cannabis in several states and locally in my home community of Springfield, MO. I've lost some skin in that advocacy effort but I always say what I believe. I've testified before local and state governmental entities as a Medical Review Officer and respected medical doctor in several states that cannabis is safer than alcohol, that it's not usually addictive and it is not a gateway drug. I also own the domain www.homegrowsforall.com that is in the final stages of design.
You'll recall I opposed 502 solely on the basis of the unscientific DUI-C provision that nails regular cannabis users for DUI-C up to three days into total abstinence at the 5 ng level. I think I did a great job alerting the pubic of the issue.
(Derosiers, NIDA 2014: Anal Tox) I'd be delighted to forward the manuscript if you dare identify yourself, My email is below.
I'm also leading an effort to refine the medical cannabis profession by establishing protocols, best practices, continuing medical education for practitioners and QA policies. I'm hardly the zero tolerance zealot you'd prefer the readers to believe I am.
You'll also note in the run up to 502, I testified numerous times to the LCB about 1 issue: PESTICIDES. Specifically, I warned them that this travesty with pesticide contamination of cannabis at dangerous levels would happen. I have the audio of that public meeting in Lacy in the spring of 2012 if you'd like that. I gave the same testimony to the Colorado legislature. They listened.

Yes, cannabis needs to be legal but not "Washington State way" where drivers are accused of DUI three days after they put down their joint and their cannabis concentrates give off cyanide gas when the pesticides are burned or vaped.
Secondly, I've learned a LOT from Steve Sarich. As crazy as he can be, (and I was scared the death of him for the first few years I knew him) he is actually pretty smart on some important issues. For instance, your state crime lab would still be utilizing GCMS chromatography that yields falsely elevated DUI blood levels as it converts THC-A to delta-9 in the heating process in blood samples submitted for DUI testing. I intervened and made a big stink about this problem and now that method is totally discredited. Your lab had to buy a million dollars worth of equipment to rectify the issue. You can thank Steve Sarich that your state won't be falsely elevating THC levels in their labs any more.

Thirdly, I have no affiliation with CCA. None. I paid $3500 out of my own pocket for my own testing. Tobias found an entity that did the same, CCA. He combined our results. I did the demonstration project to show, rather dramatically. that your state not only has poisoned cannabis on the shelves of the 502 stores, but worst yet, no one in your state has the authority to recall these products that contain extraordinarily high levels of pesticides. These same products would be ripped off the shelves in other states in a New York second.

And your last comment hits the ball out of the park: your state has been derelict in their duty buy not identifying tolerated and threshold levels for pesticides in cannabis.

Thanks for this opportunity to discuss these issues, take_a-breath. I trust I've cleared a few things up. Let me know if you need the references mentioned. My email is drgilmobley@gmail.com.

Respectfully,
Gil Mobley, MD
Fellow, American College of Emergency Physicians
Diplomate, American Board of Emergency Medicine
Medical Review Officer; Certified MROCC
43
Dr. Mobley,

Thanks for your work and your informed perspective on the issue. I would like to add a note about tolerance levels. Tolerance levels are established only after years of research trials, in which crops are grown under various conditions, pesticides are applied in various ways, and the crops are then tested after harvest (after which they are destroyed). As there has been no such research done on cannabis, no tolerance levels have been established. And, from what I understand from speaking with ag professionals that have performed such trials (on other crops, not cannabis), state departments do not have the means or resources to perform them.

It is my belief that, until research has been done, we should be safe rather than sorry, and not allow any detectable residues on cannabis products, particularly those that are smoked. Any tolerance level established now, however cautious, is simply guesswork.
45
Funny thing is I have no dog in the fight. I'm not a scientist, I have no credentials. I just see through bullshit and bullshit reporting. I'm not trolling this post or even insulting anyone. I'm stating facts. I'm not hiding, I'm taking part in a discussion.

See the first thing I do when I read articles that I don't know anything about is I google the subject to learn more. I learned that the article was full of shit, just from the title of the article. (Which Tobias changed because he know it was wrong too) . Then I google the people involved and ask myself "why would this person be involved?" and "what does this person have to gain from this article", because I'm naturally a pessimist and think people only act in self interest. Which after learning more I fully believe about you Dr. Mobley. I see you got assault outside a Trump rally in Springfield, sorry about that, but good for you standing up to that fascist bigot, I hope you win your lawsuit.. But you do need to tone down the rhetoric yourself - "fire from hell and the embers are spreading" is how you defined the Ebola outbreak in 2014 - and it coming to the US, advocating locking down our boarders...That is weird, but Ebola is scary shit, so I can kinda understand. But god dam you love your Hazmat suits and protesting at the Atlanta airport about Ebola that was really weird. So 2 protests in Hazmat suits for completely different issues? You might need to find a new prop to get your point across: http://video.foxnews.com/v/3834246341001… (people thanking this guy for his work should watch this video, he's a character, especially the line about the doctor rolling around in his own feces and blood, WTF!?!)

But back to my point, your involvement in this article was bias, so that should have been stated by the author. It informs people that you have a bone to pick with 502 and are not neutral. You may have been opposed to 502 for DUI, but you DID protest in a Hazmat suit in from of Ikes. And if you did this test to prove something specifically, than that was not scientific at all, you were searching to make a point. You have a bias and something to prove and something to gain from proving it. So my questions are now: Why not test the medical products from medical dispensaries? Why did you choose recreational products for your campaign? Why not your buddies who are getting rich off "medical" marijuana? Did you tamper with the products before submitting them? Was their proper chain of custody? Enquiring minds want to know.

Adam Koh, not having any levels is ridiculous. And if you are such a in depth master of the subject you would know that. Please read this research from the National Institute of Health on residual pesticide levels in home carpet dusts. Some of the levels from Seattle are HIGHER than the test results for concentrates in this "expose": http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14726… YES, that is right, that means getting dust on your pot would skew the results and give you results similar to some of those found in this expose! OH MY GOD, THOSE MURDERING GROWERS!! There absolutely has to be some tolerance level. And if you read Tobias clarification of this article, actual Scientists say so themselves. Yup I'm an asshole that you all hate... Right on, I can live with that. I also can live with 502 weed being WAY safer than anything I bought off the street for the 10 years I've been smoking..... Knowledge is key, alway question the media, even if it's The Stranger.
46
Also, this is comic gold... "alerting the pubic of the issue.
(Derosiers, NIDA 2014: Anal Tox)" Sounds like something Dan Savage would have as an article...
47
Thanks again for your points, take_a_breath.

The samples were submitted in their original factory sealed, 502 labeled packages and photographed by the lab and news media. Is that sufficient?

I set out to prove that the LCB is not doing their job. I chose only recreational products because the growers are, by law, supposed to be reporting their pesticide use to the LCB and public by lists provided by the shops. Not surprisingly, most stores had no list to provide the consumer as required. That's a violation that needs exposing and rectifying immediately. Sorry your LCB was so slack and inattentive.

The very few growers that did comply with the law often reported that they used organics but lied. They used same real bad actors that led to recalls in Colorado.

Don't you think some one should have at least checked this before me? There has been zero random testing by the LCB you'll recall. I just don't get how you can be so angry that I would expose a significant health hazard with your state's safety of their cannabis.

Why would I test medical cannabis if there are no rules governing it and no watch dog? Their day is coming, trust me!

There's a totally wrong way to legalize cannabis, take_a_breath, and Washington State is writing that playbook. (Colorado has gotten it right!) The chapters get more and more absurd as time goes on! From the lack of home grows to the absurd DUI provisions implying impairment three days into abstinence to your pesticide laden weed at levels off the charts on the shelves (that no one has bothered to test what-so-ever and no one has any authority to do anything about)*, Washington state has failed in many ways to legalize cannabis in a responsible way that protects the public.

I wanted to show that little of the promised regulation is happening and that there are frank and dangerous violations that are being neglected. BINGO! My hypothesis was spot on! There's a total break down in your system. It is puzzling that you'd defend it, frankly, and so critical.

Medical has no laws yet. I chose to expose a big deficit in your legalization scheme that exposes the public to undue and varied health hazards. PERIOD.

And, regarding Ebola, I single-handedly started fever screening in international airports on passengers arriving from West Africa, the concept of fever screening centers once ER's might get overwhelmed, (adopted promptly) and tracking of international passengers arriving from West Africa by local health departments. What did you do for the epidemic?I also predicted it would spread quickly to our health care workers that were not properly protected. I was right. (And it was the CDC quoting millions of Ebola cases in the world......no me pal.) I have no regrets about my Ebola activism or my pot activism or my anti-Trump activism.

What else can I help with? I appreciate your concerns.

Respectfully.

Dr. Gil
* The DOH will issue emergency recall rules for recreational cannabis tomorrow. You can thank me for that, take_a_breath.

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