Pubdate: Thu, 08 Oct 2015
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: David Kelly

A POT MILESTONE: PRODUCT LIABILITY SUIT

Two Coloradans Sue Over Pesticide, Saying a Grower Is Acting Like 
Corporate America.

DENVER - For years, Brandan Flores has treated his chronic back pain 
with marijuana, a remedy he champions as a natural alternative to 
traditional medication.

But recently he heard rumblings that his drug of choice might be less 
wholesome than he had imagined.

"There was talk about Eagle 20," he said, "and it concerned me right away."

Eagle 20 is a fungicide used to kill mites, mildew and assorted pests 
that flock to plants like hops and grapes. It also contains a 
chemical called myclobutanil, which produces hydrogen cyanide gas when burned.

Stunned that he might be inhaling toxic fumes, Flores and fellow 
medicinal pot user Brandie Larrabee, a brain tumor patient, sued the 
grower this week, filing the first product liability lawsuit against 
the marijuana industry.

"I want these companies to take a step back and look at what they are 
putting into their products," said Flores, 24, who sued in Denver 
District Court. "These warehouses are getting big and really sloppy. 
They are adding chemicals to make things more efficient and more 
potent. But there are so many chemicals now that you might as well 
get prescription medication."

The target of the suit, LivWell Inc., owns nine pot shops in 
Colorado, which legalized recreational marijuana use last year. 
LivWell operates one of the largest grow houses in the world.

Company lawyer Dean Heizer did not respond to a request for comment. 
Earlier, he told the Associated Press that LivWell had stopped using 
Eagle 20 and that no consumer illnesses had been linked to marijuana 
pesticides.

In April, Colorado quarantined 60,000 pot plants from LivWell to 
check for Eagle 20 residue. The hold was lifted when only low levels 
of the chemical were found.

Afterward, LivWell owner John Lord released a statement saying 
laboratory tests of his plants "showed that our products are safe - 
as we always maintained."

Neither Flores nor Larrabee contends that the marijuana has harmed 
them. But they say they would have never inhaled it if they knew it 
could release what the lawsuit calls "poisonous hydrogen cyanide."

Their attorney, Steven Woodrow, said the growers "either knew or 
acted in disregard of the facts" when they sprayed the plants with Eagle 20.

"The state of Colorado has a list of approved pesticides for 
marijuana," he said. "This is not one of them."

Woodrow said this is the first lawsuit to challenge the marijuana 
industry's grow methods. He is seeking class-action status for the 
suit and expects more plaintiffs to join in.

"Unless the industry cleans itself up, we can expect more lawsuits 
like this in the future," he said.

The action comes as the marijuana business rapidly expands across 
Colorado, often outpacing laws trying to regulate it. New products, 
new ways to get high and new strains of weed come onto the market every day.

Woodrow compared the explosion of the pot economy here to the tech 
startups in Silicon Valley.

"We have a burgeoning industry that is growing on a scale never 
attempted before," he said. "They are growing hundreds of thousands 
of plants indoors under lights, and now they are seeing spidery 
mites, fungus and other plant diseases they fear will wipe out 
millions of dollars of profit."

But rather than scale back, he said, companies resort to chemicals 
like Eagle 20 to save their crops.

"It is allowed on vegetation that is not inhaled, but it has been 
banned for use on plants like tobacco," Woodrow said.

The lack of any federal guidelines for growing pot underscores the 
continuing conundrum of an industry still considered illegal by the 
U.S. government.

"The problem is getting a robust regulatory system in place so that 
consumers have reliable government standards they can count on," said 
Alison Malsbury, a Seattle attorney with the Canna Law Group, which 
specializes in marijuana law. "The main message here is that 
marijuana companies can't rely on meeting the bare minimum standards 
for product safety. If a consumer gets sick, they have a product 
liability case on their hands."

Last week, Denver health officials quarantined more plants to check 
for traces of unauthorized pesticides.

Flores says it all comes down to trust. He became an activist for 
legalized marijuana shortly after a severe car accident left him with 
recurring lower back pain. He found marijuana eased that pain in an 
organic way without lining the pockets of big drug companies.

But after the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado, 
Oregon, Alaska and Washington, he said, the pot business is starting 
to resemble the rest of corporate America.

"They are only interested in pumping out large quantities of the 
product and not in taking time to nurture it," he said. "If they are 
willing to compromise your health to make a profit, then I say we hit 
them where it hurts, in the pocketbook."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom