Pubdate: Tue, 21 Jul 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 The Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Kristen Wyatt, the Associated Press

POT GROWERS AT LOSS TO FIGHT INFESTATIONS

Turning to Pesticides Raises Health Issues

DENVER (AP) - Microscopic bugs and mildew can destroy a marijuana 
operation faster than any police raid. And because the crop has been 
illegal for so long, neither growers nor scientists have any reliable 
research to help fight the infestations.

As legal marijuana moves from basements and backwoods to warehouses 
and commercial fields, the mold and spider mites that once ruined 
only a few plants at a time can now quickly create a 
multimillion-dollar crisis for growers. Some are turning to 
industrial-strength chemicals, raising concerns about safety.

Pesticides and herbicides are regulated by the federal government, 
which still regards almost all marijuana as an illicit crop, so 
there's no roadmap to help pot farmers. Chemists and 
horticulturalists can't offer much assistance either. They sometimes 
disagree about how to combat the problem, largely because the plant 
is used in many different ways - smoked, eaten and sometimes rubbed 
on the skin.

"We have an industry that's been illegal for so many years that 
there's no research. There's no guidelines. There's nothing," said 
Frank Conrad, lab director for Colorado Green Lab, a pot-testing lab in Denver.

In states that regulate marijuana, officials are just starting to 
draft rules governing safe levels of chemicals. So far, there have 
been no reports of any human illness traced to chemicals used on 
marijuana, but worries persist.

The city of Denver this spring quarantined tens of thousands of 
marijuana plants at 11 growing facilities after health inspectors 
suspected use of unauthorized pesticides. Some of the plants were 
later released after tests revealed the pot was safe, but two 
producers voluntarily destroyed their plants. Eight businesses have 
still at least some plants in quarantine.

In Oregon, a June investigation by The Oregonian newspaper found 
pesticides in excess of legal limits on products ranging from 
marijuana buds to concentrated marijuana oils. Other pesticides 
detected on the marijuana are not regulated by Oregon's marijuana 
rules, meaning that products containing those chemicals still can be 
sold there.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which decides which 
pesticides can be used on which crops, last month told Colorado and 
Washington authorities that they could apply to have some 
cannabis-related chemicals approved through what's called a "special 
local need registration." But that process could take years.

Colorado and Oregon require retail marijuana to undergo testing for 
pesticides and other contaminants. But as the Oregon investigation 
showed, the testing regimes are imperfect. And Colorado hasn't yet 
implemented requirements for retail pot to undergo pesticide testing 
because of regulatory delays.

Washington state is still working on its pesticide rules. The 
nation's largest marijuana producer, California, has no regulations 
at all for growing commercial pot.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom