California investigation reveals pesticides in legal marijuana

Some disturbing results here, especially for vape users

Just because something is available legally doesn’t mean it’s completely healthy.

When recreational cannabis is legalized in a particular state, one of the reasons often cited as to why buying from a legal dispensary is better than an illegal or gray market dispensary has to do with regulation. Buying from a legal seller, the thinking goes, will be the best quality, with detailed ingredient lists and a sense of legitimacy. Unfortunately, a recent study by the Los Angeles Times and industry publication WeedWeek has discovered something else in legal weed: traces of pesticides.

This is the great insight from a Los Angeles Times Article by Paige St. John and Alex Halperin. The investigators tested a variety of products and found – mostly in vapes – a number of pesticides. As the Just These reportedly include chlorfenapyr (which can cause vomiting, headaches and memory loss) and trifloxystrobin (which can cause dizziness and irritated eyes). Laboratory tests revealed the presence of 45 different toxic chemicals in the cannabis products analyzed.

The focus of the study was on e-cigarettes and pre-rolled cigarettes. As St. John and Halperin describe it, 25 of the 42 products tested contained “pesticide concentrations that either exceeded federally permitted levels or exceeded federal standards for tobacco.”

The situation described in the Just The report sounds not dissimilar to what has happened recently in Colorado’s legal marijuana market. In both cases, laws that were comprehensive when they were passed are no longer sufficient to regulate the products made available to consumers. St. John and Halperin point out that smokable products are particularly at risk here, in part because of the nature of their consumption, which could put people at greater risk from pesticides.