Mandatory Pesticide Testing is Here! Finally.

Oh, thank you little baby Jesus! It is about time.??

It was August 7th, 2018 that I spoke with the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) explaining that as of July 31st, Washington State was officially the ONLY adult-use state that did not require pesticide testing.??

?And to be clear, that is nothing to be proud of!? It is especially concerning when the state agency's mission is to promote public safety and trust through fair administration and enforcement of liquor, cannabis, tobacco and vapor laws.??

?The next day, they started rulemaking to implement mandatory pesticide testing.? Three and a half years later, it's finally being implemented.

?Lemme start by saying, there is more to do. We know this. This is no small, simple task, and the science on the subject is still emerging. I can list a dozen ways unscrupulous cannabis farms can continue to put personal profits above consumer safety (however I'm not going to list them for obvious reasons).?

But when all data suggests that 30-40% of the regulated market has illegal amounts of pesticides in it (see here, here and here), and we've delayed implementation for this long, it's irresponsible to wait any longer.? In my ongoing conversations with the WSLCB, it was clear that they adequately identified the holes in the science, balanced comments from the industry, addressed pressure from the legislature, and (finally) prioritized consumer safety.

?It's also important to note that Washington has had fantastic pesticide rules since the inception of adult use cannabis back in 2013.? Very little pesticides are allowed on regulated cannabis, even less are effective.? Anyone who has grown cannabis knows that there are about 100,000 ways that cannabis can go wrong between clone to harvest;? Integrative Pest Management (IPM) systems are a must.??

?The problem lies that although the rules have always been very conservative, the enforcement of said rules have been non-existent.? Theoretically, all products in the regulated market should have no problem passing these new mandatory pesticide tests as the only meaningful change is now the state is actually enforcing the pesticide rules (in place since 2013) instead of farmers just promising that they are following them.? However, based on the data above, we know that not all farmers have been telling the truth.

?As a farm who has certified all of our products as medical marijuana (i.e. Department of Health Compliant) since 2017, this is a game-changer.??

?For too long, good clean farms have lost shelf space to cannabis that doesn't meet the rules for pesticide testing.? Hopefully, this rule change helps support the good guys on the brink of extinction; those of us who are socially conscious companies, valuing our community, our employees, and our environment instead of just our shareholders' profits.

?If I didn't think that I'd break my neck, I would be doing backflips right now.? #GameOn

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Written by Danielle Rosellison — CEO & Co-Founder (she/her) of Trail Blazin' Productions

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