Pubdate: Mon, 07 Sep 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Ricardo Baca

POT INDUSTRY ADJUSTING TO DENVER'S PESTICIDE FOCUS

Shops Are on the Lookout for Labels That Don't Comply.

The marijuana industry has reacted to the city of Denver's recent 
expansion of its pesticide inspections protocol by double-checking 
its labels and, in one case, destroying more than $8,000 worth of 
infused edibles and oils.

The city said last week its inspectors were starting to check 
in-store labels on marijuana and cannabis products for pesticides not 
allowed by the Colorado Department of Agriculture.

When Denver Relief coowner Ean Seeb on Aug. 31 saw the city's memo, 
he instructed his staff to examine the labels on the edibles carried 
in the shop. Seeb wanted to ensure "that only the approved pesticides 
were on any of our labels," he said.

The state's largest dispensary group, Native Roots, was expecting the 
bulletin after being informed by inspectors with the Denver Fire 
Department, founding partner Rhett Jordan said.

"We took action to remove products with any of the listed, nonusable 
pesticides about four months ago after Denver did its first round of 
pesticide screenings (in cultivations)," said Jordan, who operates 
three of his 12 Colorado shops in the city and county of Denver. "So 
nothing in our stores would be on our shelves if they weren't 
compliant to (Denver's) standards."

It was also business as normal at another large pot shop chain, The 
Clinic, which several months ago executed "an anti-pesticide 
agreement" with all of its vendors, a representative said.

But it was a different scene at edibles company Flo last week, where 
owner Paul Rossi learned that one of his wholesale sources for 
marijuana trim had used a once-allowed, now-barred pesticide on the 
cannabis he had used to infuse some of Flo's products.

"We had a meeting internally with our staff on Monday night after 
getting the bulletin," said Rossi, who sells infused products 
medically in Colorado. "We decided that night to pull the product 
that was affected."

Flo's self-imposed quarantine involved the destruction of 275 units 
retrieved from eight area pot shops, costing the fivemonth-old company $8,310.

"It was a small quantity, so the issue for us is the time that it's 
going to take to remake and restock the product," said Rossi. "It hurt us."

Edibles company Mountain High Suckers was one of two companies that 
had products placed on hold by the city Sept. 1 - and Denver Relief 
pulled its stock of Mountain High edibles until the city released 
them one day later after tests showed no banned pesticides present, 
when Seeb said the store "put them back on the shelves."

Friday, Denver released another bulletin clarifying its Monday action 
saying that companies with onceheld product, such as Mountain High 
Suckers, can affix another label to their city-cleared items that 
reads, "The seller certifies that this product derives from plant 
material that was approved for release by Denver Environmental 
Health." The city also said that outdated labels declaring pesticides 
no longer used cannot be altered.

"We went through this at the grow level several months ago, and now 
we're cleaning up some issues at the retail level," said Dan Rowland, 
spokesman for the city's office of cannabis policy. "It's nice to see 
the process working. At the end of the day, the city and industry are 
interested in the consumer protection piece."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom