Pubdate: Thu, 17 Sep 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Authors: David Migoya and Ricardo Baca

CRACKDOWN ON "ORGANIC"

Colorado's attorney general is investigating several marijuana 
businesses over concerns the word "organic" in their names or 
advertising might be misleading to consumers.

The office is reviewing complaints from consumers that the "merchants 
have been misrepresenting their product when they say 'organic' or 
'organically grown,' " said Roger Hudson, spokesman for state 
Attorney General Cynthia Coffman. "We're looking for information 
inside those complaints to make a determination on what those next 
steps are. Is it consumer fraud? Is it criminal?"

The AG's office would not give more detail on the scope of the 
investigation, but a lawyer who represents a marijuana business 
contacted by investigators said it appears to have limits.

The inquiry includes grow operations - some with "organic" in their 
names - recently caught up in Denver quarantines over pesticide 
concerns, attorney Sean McAllister said.

The AG is ensuring that businesses that use the word are at least 
"consistent with the concept of organic," McAllister said.

Because marijuana is illegal under feder al law, and use of the term 
"organic" is federally regulated, a licensed cannabis business cannot 
be certified as organic no matter its practices.

As such, no marijuana business in Colorado can technically use the 
word in its name or in selling its product, according to officials 
and industry insiders.

Potential fraud penalties under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act 
include fines of up to $10,000 per violation. Federal rules say that 
businesses wrongly selling a product as organic could face fines of 
up to $10,000.

Yet those rules have not been enforced in Colorado's marijuana 
business until now.

State marijuana-license records show that 29 businesses - growers, 
retailers and dispensaries - use the word "organic" in their name. 
Some use a trade name containing the word "organic" to market 
marijuana products or use the term in their advertising.

A spot check of websites by The Denver Post found businesses claiming 
to sell "100% organic" cannabis, offering organic treatments of 
medicinal marijuana or use only "organic methods" to produce their product.

Some shops describe their product as "grown in organic soil" or that 
they "use organic growing techniques."

Another website touts a "certification of organic standards and 
testing that mirrors the (U.S. Department of Agriculture) organic 
certification."

Taking a risk

Brooke Wise, owner of Growing Kitchen in Boulder, said she's willing 
to take the risk of labeling her company's edibles - made with 
certified organic seeds and fruits - as organic, even if the 
marijuana in them isn't.

"It's a principle, an ideology that doesn't belong to anybody," she 
said, noting her plants would be certified organic if that existed. 
"On the list of sacrifices and gambles I take, (organic) is 
definitely on there."

But RiverRock Cannabis in Denver has backed away from using the term. 
Until recently, the company had been known as RiverRock Organic 
Medical Cannabis.

"The attorney general sent something saying that no dispensary can be 
certified as organic," retail manager Chris Haggerty said.

The company changed signs, stopped handing out promotional items with 
the company's name and even stopped selling T-shirts with the old 
company name, Haggerty said.

A group seeking to have marijuana certifiable as organic said a 
system for informing consumers how marijuana is grown is needed.

"The word 'organic' is being used inappropriately by people who are 
using very toxic chemicals. There's no governing agency that is 
regulating that," said John Paul Maxfield, co-founder of the Organic 
Cannabis Association in Denver. "In the absence of a body coming 
through and branding organic cannabis, that term can be used by 
everybody, even if it's not done properly."

Certification

The USDA accredits companies and state governments to certify any 
farm as complying with federal organic regulations for agricultural 
products. No company may use the term without this certification.

"Marijuana may not be certified organic under the USDA organic 
regulations," said a USDA spokesman who could not be named because 
it's the agency's policy when discussing marijuana. "Marijuana is 
considered a controlled substance at the federal level, and organic 
certification is reserved for agricultural products."

The USDA's National Organic Program rules say companies with 
"organic" in their name cannot prominently display it on a product 
and cannot use the name at all if it misrepresents that a product has 
been certified organic.

It falls to the Colorado Department of Agriculture to certify and 
accredit agricultural businesses in the state as organic - as well as 
police for inappropriate and illegal uses of the word - on behalf of the USDA.

If the state chose to certify marijuana as organic, it would have to 
ignore federal rules, and that's unlikely, said Mitch Yergert, 
director of CDA's plant industry division.

The state's inquiry came after the Denver Department of Environmental 
Health this year quarantined more than 100,000 marijuana plants over 
pesticide concerns.

One company, Organic Greens, tested positive for unapproved 
pesticides. But because it operates publicly as Natural Remedies, the 
AG's office allowed it to keep its name, said McAllister, its attorney.

"Their actual corporation name is Organic Greens, but they don't use 
it in advertising. They don't publicize themselves as 'organic.' They 
don't do any advertising as organic ... so nobody's being misled," 
McAllister said, confirming the company came under AG scrutiny.

McAllister said the AG is focusing, at least in part, on companies 
that have used pesticides not allowed by the state for use on marijuana.

"They understand you can't get federal certification for the word 
'organic' in marijuana," he said. "(The AG's office is) not 
substituting themselves for a certification agency, but if it's 
clearly not organic, if someone's using Mallet or Eagle 20, they are 
also looking for those cases."

Mallet and Eagle 20 are pesticide trade names whose active 
ingredients contain chemicals the state has not approved for use on marijuana.

Although no chemical pesticide can obtain federal approval for use on 
cannabis, state agriculture officials have determined which products 
have labels whose restrictions are so broadly worded that using them 
on marijuana would not be a violation.

[sidebar]

What's in a name?

State marijuana-license records show 29 businesses - growers, 
retailers and dispensaries - use the word "organic" in their name. 
Some, it's unclear exactly how many, use a trade name containing the 
word "organic" to market marijuana products or use the term in their 
advertising.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom