80 Percent Of Medical Marijuana Tested At Recent NorCal Conference Is Tainted With Mold, Other Toxins

(Photo courtesy Doug Shutter/Shutterstock)

Cannabis sold at Bay Area dispensaries is regularly referred to as \”medicine,\” however a lack of regulation and testing around the product has led to significant supply of marijuana on dispensary shelves being tainted and/or toxic to the people who consume it.

Following the recent HempCon at the Cow Palace in August, an array of medical marijuana products underwent testing by Hunters Point-based Anresco Laboratories. As San Francisco Magazine reports, some 80 percent of those tested from California-based growers and dispensaries, were tainted with mold, fungus, bacteria, pesticides, or harmful solvents – and the popular concentrates and oils used in vape pens and dabs can, because they\’re concentrated, contain much higher amounts of these toxins.

Risk of infection from smoking mold-, fungus- or bacteria-laden marijuana buds has not been widely discussed or understood until recently. There was a report out of UC Davis earlier this year about a spate of rare fungal infections in cancer patients\’ lungs that doctors traced to the patients\’ use of medical marijuana. In one of those cases where the patient\’s immune system was compromised by chemotherapy, the patient died from the infection.

\”We sometimes see 20 or 30 percent of our samples coming through the lab significantly contaminated with molds,\” said Dr. Donald Land of Steep Hill Laboratories in Berkeley. But after sampling from 20 dispensaries across California and analyzing the cannabis down to its DNA, Land told CBS 5 at the time that he was shocked to find \”ninety percent of those samples had something on them. Some DNA of some pathogen.\”

SF Mag goes further into Anresco\’s results, finding that pesticides and fungicides can appear in cannabis extracts at 1,000 times the level of concentration typically found in foods. These chemicals include things like myclobutanil, which sold under the brand name Eagle 20, and which can cause cancer and has reportedly sickened cannabis consumers in Canada.

For more  http://sfist.com/2017/08/31/80_percent_of_medical_marijuana_tes.php

As of this week, marijuana-infused gummy bears can no longer be sold in Colorado.  On October 1, a law banned marijuana treats in the shape of animal, people or otherwise designed to appeal to children. Smart Colorado, a non-profit group, worked diligently to pass child protection laws.

As Colorado tightens restrictions on the sale of marijuana edibles, the problems with pot candies have reached other states.   Children all around the country have accidentally eaten pot-infused sweets and turned up in hospital emergency rooms.

Other states have pot gummy bears, too

Family Council, a group in Arkansas, published this information.

• August, 2017: A baby in Wisconsin ate part of a marijuana-infused cookie which allegedly belonged to the child’s babysitter and had to be hospitalized.
• August, 2017: A 10-month-old baby in Indiana was hospitalized after eating a gummy bear laced with THC, the cannabinoid in marijuana which produces a high.
• July, 2017:  Two children in Florida ate gummy candies laced with marijuana.  The 3-year-old and 5-year-old reportedly felt sick and faded in and out of consciousness.  A 20-year-old woman who lived in the same house left the candies open, within reach of the children.
• June, 2017: A Rhode Island toddler nearly died from overdosing on “medical” marijuana edibles which allegedly belonged to her grandfather.
• May, 2017: Two children in Utah were hospitalized after mistakenly eating a cookie laced with marijuana.
• May, 2017: A ten-year-old in New York was reportedly hospitalized after accidentally eating candy infused with marijuana.  The boy’s father bought the candy as “medical marijuana.”
• March, 2017:  A two-year-old suffering from lethargy was taken to the hospital in Nebraska, where she tested positive for THC.  The child’s daycare provider reportedly admitted to serving the child cookies that were baked in a pan previously used to bake marijuana brownies.
• March, 2017: A five-year-old in Ohio ate a gummy bear laced with THC and later went to the hospital. The child reportedly found the gummy bear in a dresser drawer and mistook it for ordinary candy.

Sponsored by a psychological society devoted to finding non-drug solutions to emotional and mental health problems, this upcoming event gives us a chance to hear the expert opinions of a psychologist who works amongst our troubled youth.

Dr. Dee Apple will share how legalization will affect children, adolescents and young people. He will explain how marijuana really affects the human body, especially the developing nervous system. He will explain its disruptive impact on the emotional functioning of adolescents and young people. The lecture will be recorded and we will make it available on PopPot.org after the event.

If you can make it to Princeton, New Jersey, please join us for this important lecture and discussion.  Meet and hear Dee Apple, Ph.D. share his presentation, “Legalized Pot: What are the Consequences?”  on Saturday, October 7, 2017 at Aaron Burr Hall, Princeton University, Corner of Nassau Street and Washington Road, Princeton, NJ from 4:00PM to 6:00PM. For more http://www.poppot.org/2017/09/28/princeton-psychologist-puts-focus-legalized-marijuana-outcomes/