The cannabis industry has spoken out against the city of Denver’s new protocol growth of pesticide inspection by double-checking labels and, even (in one case) eliminating over $8,000 worth of edibles and oils. Denver said a week ago that its health officials were beginning to check labels on pot and cannabis products for pesticides prohibited by the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
When Ean Seeb, co-owner of Denver Relief, saw the city’s memo, he forced his staff to check all labels on the edibles being sold in the dispensary. Seeb wanted to make sure that “that only the approved pesticides were on any of our labels.” Colorado’s biggest dispensary group – Native Roots – was awaiting the message after being told by inspectors with the Denver Fire Department, according to Rhett Jordan, founding partner.
“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 runs three of his twelve Colorado dispensaries in 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 stated.
However, it was different at edibles company Flo last week. Paul Rossi, owner of the dispensary, saw that one of his wholesale sources for cannabis had used a previously allowed, now prohibited pesticide on the marijuana he had used to infuse some 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.”
