In the United States, if you were to take a prescription pill, you will likely know what you’re getting because of strict federal regulations that require both quality and consistency. However, the same is not true for marijuana, even if it is prescribed by a doctor. Medical marijuana is capable of mildewing or being covered in pesticides. Also, edibles can be contaminated with E. coli or mold and concentrates could have high levels of excess solvents.
More and more states are legalizing medicinal and recreational marijuana, so they are trying to learn what kinds of tests and quality controls must be done on edibles, bud, and concentrates sold at dispensaries throughout the nation. However, selling and possessing marijuana is still federally illegal, so the twenty-three states that have legalized some form of marijuana are not receiving any help from the EPA, FDA, or USDA, the federal agencies that set standards for agricultural consumption.
“There is a vacuum of silence coming from the feds,” director of environmental health at the Association of Public Health Laboratories, Megan Latshaw, told BuzzFeed stated. “Each state has done their best to address some of the challenges and what ends up happening is a very piecemeal approach.”
What this means is that everyone is learning as the process goes on without much information on the effects of marijuana’s contaminants on health after they are burned and inhaled. Since it is illegal to transport marijuana from state to state, most commercial marijuana products are grown and sold in the same state. Each state determines what kind of testing to require and who should be doing the testing. However, since everything is new, there are many holes in the system that many people are willing to take advantage of.
“There are some labs out there that are just taking the cannabis and printing out a report that’s fake and saying ‘you passed for pesticides’ and never analyzing for pesticides,” compliance specialist for the Oregon Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, Shannon Swantek, said. “Without regulation, the fraud is really running the gamut.”
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