7greeneyes
MedicalNLovingIt!
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url: hMPp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/24/marijuana-pesticides-contamination_n_3328122.html
BELFAIR, Wash. -- Other than a skunky aroma, the waiting room at the Cannabis Care Foundation in Belfair, Wash., resembles your typical pharmacy. Chairs line walls next to stacks of magazines -- in this case, issues of Rolling Stone -- and a steady stream of patients step up to the counter with doctor's notes.
One by one, salesman Adam Dempsey leads them to the back of the shop, where they can choose from an extensive weed menu -- products with names such as Frankenstein, Garbage, Snoops Dream and Sour Diesel.
"I take it every day myself," said Dempsey, sporting a black hat with a green embroidered marijuana leaf and a plain white T-shirt over his tattooed arms. He works security and customer service at the non-profit store, which through a cooperative arrangement gets much of its cannabis crop from patients themselves.
Marijuana's primary mind-bending ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), Dempsey suggested, helps tame his attention deficit disorder.
But experts warn that unwelcome chemicals, including pesticides, may be tagging along with the THC and threatening the health of marijuana users.
"There's a pretty considerable amount of contaminated cannabis," said Jeff Raber of The Werc Shop, a Pasadena, Calif.-based lab that tests products primarily for California dispensaries.
"There are no application standards," he added. "Since we're not telling growers that they're allowed to use anything, they often use whatever they can get their hands on. And that's a lot of bad things."
Many of the chemicals applied to pot plants are intended only for lawns and other non-edibles. Medical cannabis samples collected in Los Angeles have been found to contain pesticide residues at levels 1600 times the legal digestible amount.
Because the product is generally inhaled rather than eaten, any toxins it carries have an even more direct route into the lungs and blood stream. Raber noted the situation is all the more concerning for patients smoking medical cannabis, whose health problems could make them more vulnerable to the risks pesticide exposure brings -- especially if they suffer from a liver disease.
Still illegal in the eyes of the federal government, marijuana use is condoned by a growing number of states. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia now allow the medical use of cannabis, and Colorado and Washington recently approved pot for recreational use. Many of the states where some form of marijuana use is legal, including Washington, have begun drafting regulations that would require independent labs to test products before they are sold.
While efforts to legalize both medical and recreational cannabis could lead to "a greater awareness of and demand for clean, pesticide-free marijuana," said Raber, the burgeoning market remains troublesome.
Raber published a study this month that attempted to answer some lingering questions about pot and pesticide exposure. He and his colleagues investigated pesticides they'd commonly detected on marijuana products in their lab -- bifenthrin, diazinon, and permethrin -- as well as a plant growth regulator called paclobutrazol. One concern was whether those pesticides could actually get into a user's body.
The short answer: yes. However, amounts varied depending on how the pot was smoked.
The researchers determined that as much as 60.3 percent to 69.5 percent of chemical residues would be inhaled with a hand-held glass pipe, but as little as 0.08 percent to 10.9 percent got through with a filtered water pipe.
"When you filter, you see a dramatic reduction in the amount of pesticides," said Raber.
Not all cannabis is the same, of course. Each strain comes with its own unique combination of chemical compounds, and scientists have yet to get a handle on how any of the chemicals applied to the plant might interact with those natural chemicals, especially when burned and inhaled together. Then there are all of the other forms in which cannabis is consumed -- from oils to teas to candies.
Marijuana Pesticide Contamination Becomes Health Concern As Legalization Spreads
BELFAIR, Wash. -- Other than a skunky aroma, the waiting room at the Cannabis Care Foundation in Belfair, Wash., resembles your typical pharmacy. Chairs line walls next to stacks of magazines -- in this case, issues of Rolling Stone -- and a steady stream of patients step up to the counter with doctor's notes.
One by one, salesman Adam Dempsey leads them to the back of the shop, where they can choose from an extensive weed menu -- products with names such as Frankenstein, Garbage, Snoops Dream and Sour Diesel.
"I take it every day myself," said Dempsey, sporting a black hat with a green embroidered marijuana leaf and a plain white T-shirt over his tattooed arms. He works security and customer service at the non-profit store, which through a cooperative arrangement gets much of its cannabis crop from patients themselves.
Marijuana's primary mind-bending ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), Dempsey suggested, helps tame his attention deficit disorder.
But experts warn that unwelcome chemicals, including pesticides, may be tagging along with the THC and threatening the health of marijuana users.
"There's a pretty considerable amount of contaminated cannabis," said Jeff Raber of The Werc Shop, a Pasadena, Calif.-based lab that tests products primarily for California dispensaries.
"There are no application standards," he added. "Since we're not telling growers that they're allowed to use anything, they often use whatever they can get their hands on. And that's a lot of bad things."
Many of the chemicals applied to pot plants are intended only for lawns and other non-edibles. Medical cannabis samples collected in Los Angeles have been found to contain pesticide residues at levels 1600 times the legal digestible amount.
Because the product is generally inhaled rather than eaten, any toxins it carries have an even more direct route into the lungs and blood stream. Raber noted the situation is all the more concerning for patients smoking medical cannabis, whose health problems could make them more vulnerable to the risks pesticide exposure brings -- especially if they suffer from a liver disease.
Still illegal in the eyes of the federal government, marijuana use is condoned by a growing number of states. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia now allow the medical use of cannabis, and Colorado and Washington recently approved pot for recreational use. Many of the states where some form of marijuana use is legal, including Washington, have begun drafting regulations that would require independent labs to test products before they are sold.
While efforts to legalize both medical and recreational cannabis could lead to "a greater awareness of and demand for clean, pesticide-free marijuana," said Raber, the burgeoning market remains troublesome.
Raber published a study this month that attempted to answer some lingering questions about pot and pesticide exposure. He and his colleagues investigated pesticides they'd commonly detected on marijuana products in their lab -- bifenthrin, diazinon, and permethrin -- as well as a plant growth regulator called paclobutrazol. One concern was whether those pesticides could actually get into a user's body.
The short answer: yes. However, amounts varied depending on how the pot was smoked.
The researchers determined that as much as 60.3 percent to 69.5 percent of chemical residues would be inhaled with a hand-held glass pipe, but as little as 0.08 percent to 10.9 percent got through with a filtered water pipe.
"When you filter, you see a dramatic reduction in the amount of pesticides," said Raber.
Not all cannabis is the same, of course. Each strain comes with its own unique combination of chemical compounds, and scientists have yet to get a handle on how any of the chemicals applied to the plant might interact with those natural chemicals, especially when burned and inhaled together. Then there are all of the other forms in which cannabis is consumed -- from oils to teas to candies.