The marijuana business might have a high-stakes pest problem

[Zippyjuan]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/th...ht-have-a-high-stakes-pest-problem-2016-03-04

Moving the black market in marijuana into the light has been a boon for state tax coffers, entrepreneurs and cannabis users, but an inconvenient fact went unaddressed in the process: Potentially dangerous chemicals are used to grow it.

That changed last fall, when a Colorado newspaper’s investigation found shelves stocked with products grown using pesticides that hadn’t been approved for cannabis farming, spurring a rush of legal, regulatory and business activity.

Since then, states have quickly drawn up regulations, companies have seen their products and methods put under the microscope — sometimes taking big hits to their businesses — and cannabis product and pesticide buyers have filed lawsuits against their manufacturers.

There is even concern that the Federal government could intervene out of concern for public health, stalling the spread of cannabis legalization and the growth it has fostered.

“If the feds wanted to crack down, we’ve given them all the reasons to,” said Nic Easley, Comprehensive Cannabis Consulting founder and chief executive, who has helped more than 60 cultivators develop their growing practices.

Little long-term research on cannabis-related pesticide risks
The use of pesticides in marijuana cultivation attracted widespread attention in September, when the first of 25 recalls of cannabis products over five months in Colorado was announced. The recalls followed a September Denver Post investigation that found pesticides the state hadn’t approved for marijuana farming on products sold at dispensaries.

Little long-term testing has been performed on the dangers of eating or smoking products made with cannabis and grown using pesticides, so the extent of the hazard they pose is mostly unknown. Still, legalization experts worry that those unknowns could endanger the burgeoning legal marijuana industry in the U.S.

Experts say the risk is partly a byproduct of the haste to create growing capacity after legalization, which has attracted growers inexperienced with large-scale and indoor farming and led to cultivation environments that require pesticide use to sustain yields and keep plants alive. Many states also lacked pesticide regulations at the time of legalization, leaving growers without guidance.

While the Justice Department has essentially left states to manage their own marijuana enforcement, it also threatened intervention if states fail to prevent “the exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with marijuana use,” according to a 2013 memo. The Justice Department did not reply to multiple requests for comment.

California was first to legalize medical marijuana in 1996; it is now legal in 23 states. After Colorado and Washington passed the first recreational marijuana legalization laws in 2012 — it’s also legal in Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia — a “green rush” to enter the industry began.

Some climates in states where marijuana is legal — including Oregon, Washington and Colorado — require it to be cultivated indoors, said Rodger Voelker, lab director at cannabis testing service Oregon Growers Analytical. The combination of an indoor climate and overplanting can lead to “stressed” plants more likely to develop fungus and mites, Voelker said.

Growers have turned to pesticides — such as myclobutanil, which breaks down into an asphyxiant that can cause various forms of sickness when burned, and the insecticide imidacloprid — that have been used on such ornamental crops as roses and Kentucky bluegrass, as well as edible crops in regulated amounts, according to Easley.

But no long-term studies of the effects of inhaling those chemicals by smoking them have been conducted, according to experts. Pesticide use on marijuana crops, meanwhile, has been “rampant,” according to Brian Smith, communications director for the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, even as the health implications remain unclear.

“There’s no research on what any of this means,” said Smith.

The EPA worries about ‘unknown health consequences’
The Environmental Protection Agency ultimately approves the use of pesticides on crops, but states can do their own testing, draft guidelines for growers within their borders, and propose pesticides for federal testing and approval. As of February, no state had submitted a complete application for pesticides to be used to grow marijuana, according to the EPA.

“The use of unregistered pesticides on marijuana may have unknown health consequences, as no pesticides have undergone complete risk assessments for use on marijuana at this time,” the agency said in a statement. The EPA has not demanded proposals from states that have legalized marijuana use.

Some states, meanwhile, have published pesticide rules — well after they’d legalized cannabis use. Colorado, Washington and Oregon have issued lists of pesticides they say are safe to use; others are still being tested.

More at link.

 

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

LOL. The federal government is all for pesticides on everything except when it comes to weed. ZippyJuan--our low value, liberty contrarian poster--is also in love with pesticides and hates organic. Except, of course, when it comes to weed and Zip's fawning over the beloved federal government.

 

[dannno]

The combination of an indoor climate and overplanting can lead to “stressed” plants more likely to develop fungus and mites, Voelker said.

All you need to keep away the mites indoors are a relatively clean environment, healthy plants and some good air movement directly over the plants. Mites can potentially come from soil, but can also come in with your shoes or clothing. Take precautions to avoid bringing them into the grow room in the first place. Rotating fans will literally blow them off the plant and they won't be able to form large concentrations. For extra precaution, you can add something like azamax or azatrol to the growing medium and give it an occasional spray during the vegetative state. It will actually become a part of the plant and protect it over its lifetime and is safe, though you probably want to avoid spraying the buds.

If you still have a mite problem, you can use doktor doom, a pythrethrum based fogger or sprayer as long as you are at least 2-3 days away from harvest, but really it probably doesn't matter because it breaks down within a couple days from light exposure and it takes weeks to dry and cure.

The only time I've ever dealt with fungus problems is from outdoor gardens and it is generally caused by a caterpillar that slimes the plant and the fungus grows where the slime is. These can be deterred with a canopy or greenhouse and with a BT worm killer, which you may not even have to spray on the plant itself and merely spray the area around the plant although it is safe to do so as long as you are at least a couple days away from harvest. I always just sprayed it lightly less than once a week during veg before the buds form and then never had problems.

 

[RJB]

Do your bosses who drink Round Up™ know you are posting this?

 

[presence]

 

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Do your bosses who drink Round Up™ know you are posting this?

lol

 

[TheTexan]

Just wait for the GMO marijuana. Hippie's heads gonna explode. In more ways than one.

 

[Kotin]

All you need to keep away the mites indoors are a relatively clean environment, healthy plants and some good air movement directly over the plants. Mites can potentially come from soil, but can also come in with your shoes or clothing. Take precautions to avoid bringing them into the grow room in the first place. Rotating fans will literally blow them off the plant and they won't be able to form large concentrations. For extra precaution, you can add something like azamax or azatrol to the growing medium and give it an occasional spray during the vegetative state. It will actually become a part of the plant and protect it over its lifetime and is safe, though you probably want to avoid spraying the buds.

If you still have a mite problem, you can use doktor doom, a pythrethrum based fogger or sprayer as long as you are at least 2-3 days away from harvest, but really it probably doesn't matter because it breaks down within a couple days from light exposure and it takes weeks to dry and cure.

The only time I've ever dealt with fungus problems is from outdoor gardens and it is generally caused by a caterpillar that slimes the plant and the fungus grows where the slime is. These can be deterred with a canopy or greenhouse and with a BT worm killer, which you may not even have to spray on the plant itself and merely spray the area around the plant although it is safe to do so as long as you are at least a couple days away from harvest. I always just sprayed it lightly less than once a week during veg before the buds form and then never had problems.

Right.. The plant has natural pesticides in the leaf resin and flower resin and does not need almost anything EXCEPT when spider mites come around but they hate water and some other simple things so this should never be a problem I gues there are people who are unaware of this and are just being lazy

 

[NoOneButPaul]

Total and utter bullshit. I work for a grow in Denver and all of the product is highly tested and approved for sale before it's sent out.

What has happened is that a number of places have found ways to skirt past the rules (like putting in one product for testing and then selling another) but the bigger and more important issue here is that all of these so called "banned" pesticides were never necessarily banned for marijuana because, WAIT FOR IT, the FEDS do not have any guidelines regarding what is OK and what is not OK to spray on marijuana plants because the Feds still don't recognize the industry.

Infact, we asked the EPA To provide us a list of APPROVED pesticides and they weren't able to provide us the information because none currently exists for this field.

So explain to me who is really at fault here? The funny thing is now the Feds are going to use this as a precursor to stop it when they caused the fucking problem to begin with. I'm sure that scenario sounds familiar to everyone here...

Furthermore, it's a free market, you take the risk when you buy it. You take the same risk buying ecigs and liquid vapor pens. It shouldn't be the government's business...