What most buyers don’t know is how often the pot they smoke is contaminated with pesticides—pesticides that have never been tested for the uses some desperate growers put them to.

A new publication the Bay Citizen has an excellent article about this problem. According to the story

Pesticides not meant for use on consumable crops are available in “grow” shops throughout the Bay Area – a bustling market in which toxic substances are sold over the counter in unmarked vials.

A Bay Citizen reporter was able to purchase substances identified by vendors as the pesticides Avid and Floramite at hydroponic gardening centers in San Francisco and Berkeley. The reporter was offered a quart container of Avid at another Berkeley store for $400….

The insecticides are considered powerful tools for killing pests that can destroy indoor marijuana gardens and ruin the lucrative crop..t. Growers said use is common when dealing with serious infestation problems….

Floramite in particular is not designed for food crops, according to toxicologists, so it has not undergone studies to detect carcinogenic properties. Such studies are standard for pesticides used on edible plants. Also, because the pesticides are not intended for marijuana, there have been no studies about how pesticide residues might react if smoked. Read more here.

I found out about this piece because the reporter is Kate Mclean who interviewed me recently for a video about the environmental effects of marijuana growing.  The amount of research that went into this pesticide story is impressive and growers and smokers both need to read it.  I’d like to point out that this piece focuses on indoor weed (appropriate because the Bay Area is not strong on places for outdoor growing) but outdoor cannabis can also be sprayed with poisons.

Medical marijuana particularly but recreational pot also, needs testing to ensure the safety of consumers.  Yet another reason marijuana should be legalized.