Toxic Marijuana is Circulating in Maine, Contaminated With Pestic

Now that marijuana, both medical and recreational, has become legal in Maine, its availability has also skyrocketed all around the state as well. As a matter of fact, there are so many Maine pot shops, they're actually giving Dollar General and Dunkin' a run for their money. Just kidding. Kind of.

However, with the excess availability of marijuana comes some inherently intermittent issues with its quality. According to an article published by the Kennebec Journal, recent testing has found some of the marijuana being shipped to Maine has been classified as 'toxic'.

The newspaper explains that officials have found some strains of marijuana in Maine to be tainted with illegal pesticides from 'illicit grow houses' that were somehow still able to obtain a legal caregiver license from the state of Maine.

In addition to the pesticides, Maine officials say that some of the strains even contain a toxic for of fertilizer, adding to the risk of consumption of certain strains.

Corey Black, owner of Earth Keeper Cannabis in Wilton, told Maine state officials that he recently had been offered to purchase flower by the pound for what he says were 'suspiciously low prices'.

Black went on to tell the Kennebec Journal in part,

“They each had at least a pound that they were looking to move. We tried asking specific questions like ‘When was this harvested?’ and ‘Do you use pesticides?’ and ‘What chemicals do you use when you’re growing?’ And they just didn’t answer any of it. They couldn’t answer questions about their process or anything like that.”

The news paper explained that it's not overly uncommon for licensed dispensaries in Maine to be offered to purchase flower from licensed growers, however, they say that what is unusual is the amount of toxic pesticide and fertilizer contained within the flower.

State officials say that 'potentially fatal amounts' of the toxic chemical insecticide Pyridaben, more than 10 times what is considered safe by the Office of Cannibis Policy, was recently discovered in a harvested sample of a strain grown in Maine called “Platinum Kush.”

While this seems to be an ongoing and growing issue, Maine officials say they remain committed to investigating where these flowers and strains are coming from and getting them shut down as soon as possible.