California Study to Research Safe Pesticide Levels for Cannabis

TG Branfalt

5 years ago

A California study is offering $20 gift cards to cannabis consumers in exchange for anonymous information about how much cannabis they use, which will help in determining safe pesticide levels for cannabis crops.

Full story continued below.

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In January, researchers at the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and Sacramento State will offer cannabis users a $20 gift card in exchange for them anonymously sharing how much cannabis they consume in an effort to help determine accurate safety levels for pesticides used for cannabis cultivation, according to a Capital Public Radio report.

Charlotte Fadipe, a spokesperson for the regulatory agency, said neither federal nor state regulators have any good data on pesticide use when it comes to cannabis and, in order to calculate those levels, officials need to know how much cannabis people are consuming.

“We had talked to people in other states … and looked at tobacco levels, but we didn’t actually have any data on cannabis consumption itself. If it turns out that people are eating a lot more cannabis products than we initially thought, we might need to lower the levels.” — Fadipe, to CPR

The agency plans to set up tables at dispensaries throughout the state and ask customers to take a 20- to 60-minute anonymous survey detailing how much cannabis they smoked, ate, or used in topicals, and where they purchased the products and whether they shared them with others. Interested individuals can also sign up for the survey online.

According to CDPR data, there are 36 active ingredients allowed to be used in cannabis cultivation in the state; another 46 are banned. Following legalization in the state, the failure rate for pesticide levels in the state’s industry was about 20 percent but by November that figure dropped to about 14 percent, according to an Associated Press report.

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