For a very long time no one knew what was on/in their marijuana. There were many years where testing laboratories didn’t exist unlike today. Unless you personally grew the marijuana, or knew and could trust the person growing the marijuana, there was virtually now way to know exactly what you were smoking. My friends and I would often talk about what could potentially be on the cannabis we were consuming, but we would always proceed forward with blind faith, which admittedly was not the best strategy. But, that’s how it was when you obtained marijuana via the black market and you didn’t always know where the marijuana originated from.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture recently came out with a warning to all marijuana growers in Oregon – no pesticides. Period. Below is an explanation, via Oregon Live:
The Oregon Department of Agriculture is warning marijuana growers to stop using illegal pesticides, while the state scrambles to put together a list of acceptable chemicals.
The federal government puts pesticides through tests that determine in what context a chemical may be used in agriculture and how much may be used. Those accepted uses are then listed on the label of the pesticide.
However, because cannabis is an illegal substance according to federal laws, there are no approved pesticides to use in marijuana cultivation. So, while many growers use pesticides, the application is technically against the law.
“It is important to note, pesticide applications that do not follow the pesticide product label pose risks to public health and safety and are a violation of state and federal law. THE LABEL IS THE LAW,” says a letter being sent to every permitted marijuana grower in Oregon.
The average cannabis consumer these days is getting more and more sophisticated and educated everyday that goes by in states where marijuana reform victories have occurred. Long gone are the days when everyone in America just blindly consumed whatever they were sold via the black market. I know a lot of people that only consume local, organic food. But they don’t always have the same standard for the cannabis they consume, which is something that I think will become more and more rare going forward. I know that I personally like to know exactly what I’m smoking, and if I hear of anything funky being sprayed on, or fed to, the marijuana that is being presented to me for consumption, I’ll respectfully pass.
