What are you really smoking?
What are you smoking? Study finds pesticides transfer to marijuana smoke
Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
Posted: 11/30/2013 02:36:59 AM PST
Updated: 11/30/2013 02:36:59 AM PST
When you take a hit of marijuana, you might be inhaling a lot more than pot.
During a recent presentation at Humboldt State University, Jeffrey Raber said a recent study he conducted found that up to 70 percent of the pesticides found on a marijuana bud can transfer to the smoke being inhaled.
?I think that what's so alarming to us is that such a huge amount of pesticide material could be transferred,? Raber said. ??And, you have to consider that when you inhale (something), it's much like injecting it directly into your blood stream.?
Raber -- who holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Southern California and runs The Werc Shop, a medical cannabis testing laboratory in Los Angeles -- spoke at HSU earlier this month as the latest speaker in the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research's lecture series.
Titled ??Medical Cannabis Quality Control in California: Keeping a Weed Free Garden,? Raber's talk covered an array of topics focused on laboratory testing of marijuana, including the dangers of lurking contaminants and pesticides.
On the pesticide issue, Raber said it's important to remember that smoking a marijuana bud that's been sprayed with chemicals is far different than eating a non-organic tomato. First and foremost, he said, there are no controls over what's sprayed on marijuana crops. And, while most people would rinse off a tomato before eating it, they can't wash a bud before putting it in their pipe. The body also has filters in place for things that are ingested, he said, but not for what's inhaled.
?You don't have the first pass metabolism of the liver,? he said. ??You don't have the lack of absorptivity going through the stomach or the gut lining. It's a very different equation when you're inhaling.?
Raber said about 10 percent of the marijuana that comes through his laboratory for testing registers positive for pesticides. Those samples are only from medical marijuana dispensaries and patients who have sought out testing, he said. In a small random study his laboratory performed, Raber said more than 35 percent of marijuana failed pesticide tests.
?I think all that says is we really, really need some serious regulations within California to help us clean up our supply, especially in the medical patient context,? Raber said. ??These are people that are immunocompromised, they're undergoing chemotherapy, they're very sick with antibacterial loads. We can't be subjecting them to more of these types of potentially harmful contaminants when they're looking to this as a medicine source.?
Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey said his deputies have been finding massive amounts of high-powered pesticides at marijuana gardens throughout the county, many of which have posted medical marijuana recommendations -- meaning the marijuana grown there could be heading for collectives and, ultimately, to patients.
?I would be very concerned if I were a consumer,? Downey said.
Downey said he's been looking for a study like Raber's to quantify the dangers of smoking pesticide-laden marijuana, and he hopes to see more.
?I think there needs to be some type of direct evidence of what (patients) are getting, what they're smoking, so the general public can start to understand what they're dealing with,? Downey said.
Raber's study only goes so far. He said his laboratory tests for 30 to 40 types of chemicals, and works off the United States Environmental Protection Agency intake limits for things like apples and pears. It's far from an exact science, and he said his laboratory hasn't done any testing looking at variations between specific pesticides.
Downey said he'd like to see some studies specifically looking at cumulative impacts of inhaling these substances over the course of years, or even decades.
Mary Ellen Jerkavich, executive director of the Humboldt Patient Resource Center, said she believes marijuana is inherently a safe product, but is being turned into something decidedly unsafe by growers looking to maximize profits or save their crops by any means necessary when spider mites or other pests strike.
?When you (use pesticides), you've turned it into something different,? she said. ??It's crazy. It's super scary.?
Jerkavich said her center grows all of its own product and doesn't use pesticides or other chemicals. The center sends samples to be tested, she said, trying to make sure it is offering patients a reliably consistent product. When initially looking for a testing laboratory, Jerkavich said the center sent samples to four labs to test for levels of THC, Cannabidiol and Cannabinol. Each lab returned vastly different results, she said.
That touches on another problem with the industry, according to Raber, who said that just as there is no licensing or oversight of growers, there is none for testing laboratories either.
?Unfortunately, today in California, anyone can pretty much call themselves a lab, which is sometimes pretty demeaning to the word,? he said. ??There's no qualification.?
The pesticide issue was just a small point in Raber's larger talk at HSU, which touched on everything from erroneous branding at dispensaries and testing procedures to the various components of marijuana and the ways to determine the best strands to treat specific ailments. One theme was consistent, however.
?Buyer beware,? Raber said. ??You should really look for lab-tested products. ... With no regulations and no quality control, anything that can be brought out to the market will go out to the market.?
Downey, who has gotten a close-up look at the some of the supply side of that market in Humboldt County, said the state really needs to step up to the plate and regulate the marijuana industry.
?We have legislators that are supposed to be dealing with this kind of thing, but they continue to bury their heads in the sand,? Downey said. ??I think the general public is at risk. Where is the common sense in this? There is none.?
What are you really smoking?
AND THAT'S WHY WE GROW OUR OWN BUD. WE KNOW WHAT WE GIVE THE PLANT'S WE SMOKE OUR SELF. SORRY TO SAY BUT I THINK THIS IS SOME "BULL SHIT"
WHO DO SPRAY THEIR PLANT'S WITH ALL KIND OF SHIT THAT THEY FIND AROUND WHEN THEY KNOW THAT THEY ARE GONA SMOKE THE BUD LATER, WHO DOES THAT RLY. AND I KNOW PPL THAT HAS BEN SMOKING ALL MOST ALL THEIR LIFE AND HAS LIKE 1 SICK DAY A YEAR . THIS IS JUST SOME BAD TALK ABOUT THE PLANT BECORS THEN THEY NEED TO GROW THE WEED TO ALL BECORS ELLS ITS DANGER FOR YOU..... BLA.BLA.BLA.BLA.... THAT'S WHAT THEY DO TO MAKE MONEY .........
tell me who think this is bull shit to ?
What are you really smoking?
this is the same as saying that you will 100% die of smoking ciggerets . some ppl smoke their whole life and have 0 health problems and some get problems.
this is what i mean about all this, you can get sick of thinking you are sick . you can be happy if you just think happy thoughts. you can get hungry if you think you are hungry. you can die if the only thing you think is you are afraid of dieing... you can have a great life if you think your life is great . you can be what you want if you only think you can do it. you can lie of you think lie is the right ting to do. you do what you need to do to make money. and you do what you have to do to get right . this ppl are telling ppl this to scare some ppl away from cannabis becors all are going to medical cannabis and do not want their pills more. the only thing this ppl think of is making money. and they will always try to scare some away .
What are you really smoking?
I like the information in the first post. It's not too surprising to read that people are endangering others for their quest for $$$. Also, labs are popping up to promote what the client wants. That is very un-good. So we can pretty much discard any of this type of lab report unless we're sure it's on the up and up.
Sorry, I think that the rant following is bla, bla, bla. Catching a good one? <G>
What are you really smoking?
some commercial growers don't give a shit about health just the amount of money they get will put what ever it takes to get the the most money.
What are you really smoking?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lipps
some commercial growers don't give a shit about health just the amount of money they get will put what ever it takes to get the the most money.
i do not think what you are saying is right. sorry to say. becors all grower's do like to get better and better to their job . either way if you are growing for money or if you are growing for use. they know that if some one get sick of your grow. they will call you until they get in contact with you . or ells they will just call the coop's and say that this dude is growing weed in his house. and ppl get sick of it . and you will not have a grow more . or you will lose all your patient's or buyer's becors you grow some shiit that ppl get sick of. and trust me ppl talk about this stuff allot . me and my friend's have ben talking about this sinch we started smoking back in the day's and we wear young when we started on smoking bud's . and even we did talk about this stuff at that time. ppl do not wona smoke bud's that they get sick of. and if they get it from a dealer or a grower they will Never Return To The Dealer Or Grower. that's for sure.
ps. if you know some one who does what you are telling . drive over and beat this dude up badly. and tell him to never do some shit like that ever again. becors ppl can get rly sick from shit like that- as ppl should know as basic's ....... if you do not understand basic's like that Do Not Start Growing. that easy it is.
What are you really smoking?
here in my little part of the world there are grows of 5,000+ plants the people who do these grows are from mexico they don't care if you get sick not because they are from mexico but because they are greedy little punks who put poison on the plants to protect them from pests check out these stories: Pot grow sites' poisons cited in fishers' survival struggles - Environment - The Sacramento Bee The Conversation: Environment is going to pot - Dan Morain - The Sacramento Bee . Pot grow suspect faces added immigration charges: More than 5,000 plants, illegal poisons found on public land
Catherine Wong/The Times-Standard
Posted: 08/15/2013 02:05:45 AM PDT | Updated: 4 months ago
Additional immigration charges may be sought against a Mexican man who was arrested for alleged marijuana cultivation following a search that yielded more than 5,000 plants and banned poisons on public land, officials said Wednesday.
Humboldt County Sheriff's Office Lt. Steve Knight said 21-year-old Andres Montes-Deoca is currently being held in the county jail without bail and has been previously deported, but was unable to say when.
”The federal government will not allow his release because there may be additional charges for coming back into the country after being deported,” Knight said.
On Tuesday morning, the sheriff's office SWAT Team -- assisted by the U.S. Forest Service, the Cannabis Eradication and Reclamation Team and Trinity County Sheriff's Office -- found 5,266 growing marijuana plants, ranging from 1 to 4 feet tall, during an open field investigation on forest service land in Bear Creek Drainage near the Humboldt-Trinity County line.
Knight said deputies found a gallon-sized jug of carbofuran -- a pesticide banned in the U.S. -- at the site, and d-CON rodenticide scattered around the plants. Using conservative numbers previously provided by the sheriff's office, a full gallon of carbofuran could kill more than 3,000 black bears.
Knight said the amount of rodenticide is currently unknown.”This was a large commercial marijuana grow operation, but we've had larger in the area,” Knight said.
During the search, officers found Montes-Deoca wearing a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic pistol in a hip holster. He was arrested on suspicion of cultivating marijuana, possessing marijuana for sale and being armed during a felony.
”When these grows happen on public land, it puts the public in danger of the individuals who are walking around armed,” Knight said. “Also, when using toxins in this amount on forest service lands, it is a danger to the environment as well.”
I wish it was like what you say but reality bites..............
What are you really smoking?
I have the same issue here lipps, cartels grow several acres on federal land- keeping citizens at bay with armed guards and politicians paid off with the helicopters scheduled around harvest…….
I feel ya!
