Organic marijuana is becoming more and more popular. As I always say, the average cannabis consumer is becoming more knowledgeable and sophisticated every day, and knowing what one is consuming is becoming more important. For a long time knowing what was in a person’s cannabis wasn’t an option. You simply got what you got and hoped for the best. In legal states, those days are going away, if they haven’t already.
Now in legal states consumers can purchase marijuana that has been tested to know what exactly is in the cannabis. The testing also determines what is not in the marijuana, specifically pesticides and other undesirable substances. But testing only tells a user what levels are in the cannabis, and not how the cannabis was grown. More and more consumers specifically want organic marijuana, similar to how more and more people are only eating organic foods.
But just as with organic foods, labeling marijuana as being truly organic is not as easy as some would think. The State of Colorado was trying to become the first state to come up with standard organic labeling for marijuana, but lawmakers failed to pass such a measure over perception concerns. Per Marijuana Business Daily:
A senate panel this week killed the bill 4-3. It would have made Colorado the first state in the nation to offer organic certification for cannabis grown without pesticides, the Associated Press reported.
Some lawmakers worried the label would suggest marijuana is a health product without adverse effects.
Others voiced concerns the U.S. Department of Agriculture would penalize Colorado agriculture regulators for labeling a federally illegal substance as organic. The federal government regulates organic standards.
I expect this issue to be brought up again. The demand for organic labeling isn’t going anywhere, both for food and marijuana. I find it interesting that lawmakers are willing to demand all kinds of marijuana labeling requirements in the name of public health and safety, but when it comes to labeling standards for organic cultivation practices for the purpose of increasing public health and safety, well, that’s a bad thing. It doesn’t make sense, but then again it wouldn’t be the first time that happened in the world of marijuana policy.
