Pubdate: Wed, 13 Feb 2013
Source: Texarkana Gazette (TX)
Copyright: 2013 Texarkana Gazette
Contact:  http://www.texarkanagazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/976

MARIJUANA RAISES SAFETY QUESTIONS

Legalization Has Regulators Working on Rules and Standards of
Production

DENVER (AP) - Marijuana may be coming out of the black market in
Colorado and Washington state, but the drug, at least for now, will
retain a decidedly underground feel: Users may not know what's in it.

Less than a year away from allowing pot sales, regulators are
grappling with how to ensure that the nation's first legal marijuana
industry will grow weed that delivers only the effects that pot
smokers want.

Whether it is establishing rules to govern the growing of marijuana,
including the use of pesticides and fungicides, or accurate product
labeling, officials know they will be doing it alone.

Federal agencies that regulate food and drugs are staying out because
pot remains illegal under federal law. That means the states are
starting from scratch to protect consumers from pot that could be
tainted by mold, mildew or unwanted chemicals.

Whatever regulatory scheme officials in the states choose, there is
little reliable product history to even know where to begin
identifying marijuana safety risks, said David Acheson, a food safety
consultant.

When it was illegal, few users could come into the health department
to complain that a stash of weed they bought was bad, said Acheson, a
former assistant commissioner for the Food and Drug
Administration.

"As it becomes legal, we could see many problems emerge. We just don't
know," he said.

Medical marijuana product safety has long been a concern in Colorado.
Critics say the regulations were too loosely lax, and that any new
regulations for pot should be stringent, and rigorously enforced.

Colorado has one operational product testing facility for marijuana
potency and content. Product testing is voluntary and paid for by
interested pot consumers and sellers, not state regulators.

"I've seen stuff in grow houses-oh my God, you don't even want to know
about," said Genifer Murray, the owner of CannLabs, a Denver lab that
tests marijuana. She said she has seen cans of bug spray next to
marijuana, plants covered with powdery mildew and lax sanitation.

Colorado requires labels on edible pot, including an ingredient list
and recommended expiration date. Potency and dosing, though, are
currently left to the buyer to figure out. Labels read, "Levels of
active components of medical marijuana reported on product labels are
not subject to independent verification and may differ from actual
levels."

The state has detailed production safety guidelines and a three-page
list of pesticides and other chemicals that can't be used on
marijuana, including arsenic and mercury. But in Colorado's three-year
history regulating medical-marijuana production, the state has levied
no enforcement actions for a safety or sanitary violation.

Colorado and Washington officials are considering going further when
it comes to marijuana for sale to all adults, though neither has
decided what to do. The states will first have to decide whether to
treat marijuana like something that is smoked or something that is
eaten.

Colorado currently copies tobacco pesticide regulations to apply to
medical marijuana. But regulators rejected a proposal to certify
"organic" pot grown without any pesticides, leaving consumers with no
way to verify organic processing claims.

Other blank spots facing marijuana product safety:

Sanitation. Marijuana is a crop difficult to insure, giving
unscrupulous growers an incentive to hide moldy or otherwise foul pot
rather than throw it away.

Edible marijuana. There are no food safety inspections on
cannabis-infused food products. Some in the marijuana industry say the
public is at risk from ingredients not related to pot, and that
salmonella or E. coli outbreaks should be of concern.

Workplace safety. Marijuana producers say the industry is overdue for
worker safety protections. Of special concern is the production of
concentrated marijuana, or hashish, which is frequently produced using
butane or other explosive solvents.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the
nation's oldest marijuana-legalization advocacy group, says marijuana
could be treated like alcohol or like an herbal supplement.

Federal law doesn't require rigorous testing of supplements to prove
they are safe, or even that they work. NORML says pot should be
treated like echinacea or vitamin C pills, with government product
intervention only if consumers get sick or a safety issue comes to
light.

"Look at lettuce. Look at cantaloupe. They're regulated a whole lot
more than cannabis, but the reality is even with those regulations,
you can still have outbreaks. That doesn't mean lettuce and cantaloupe
themselves are dangerous," said Paul Armentano, a California-based
deputy national director for NORML.
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