British Columbia’s public safety minister is warning of potential contamination in illicit cannabis and the dangers of misleading packaging for illegal cannabis edibles.
Health Canada requires licensed cultivators to test cannabis to make sure it’s fit for consumption, but little is known about the quality of illicit cannabis products and production, said Mike Farnworth, who is also the solicitor general.
B.C.’s cannabis secretariat did a pilot study to test 20 dry cannabis samples seized from six illicit stores in Metro Vancouver and the results are concerning, he said.
All but two samples contained at least one of 24 different pesticides, as well as “unacceptable levels” of bacteria, fungi or heavy metals, he told a news conference on Wednesday.
The study was done in collaboration with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health, which found just three of the 20 samples would have been immediately fit for sale had they been legal.
Those three samples contained levels of micro-organisms and arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead that were below established standards, as well as pesticide residues with negligible health risk, a report from the national centre said.
Of the remaining samples, it said nine would have been considered unacceptable for sale due to the presence of pesticide residues, elevated heavy metal concentrations and indicators of unsanitary production.
The other eight samples would have required…
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British Columbia’s public safety minister is warning of potential contamination in illicit cannabis and the dangers of misleading packaging for illegal cannabis edibles.
Health Canada requires licensed cultivators to test cannabis to make sure it’s fit for consumption, but little is known about the quality of illicit cannabis products and production, said Mike Farnworth, who is also the solicitor general.
B.C.’s cannabis secretariat did a pilot study to test 20 dry cannabis samples seized from six illicit stores in Metro Vancouver and the results are concerning, he said.
All but two samples contained at least one of 24 different pesticides, as well as “unacceptable levels” of bacteria, fungi or heavy metals, he told a news conference on Wednesday.
The study was done in collaboration with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health, which found just three of the 20 samples would have been immediately fit for sale had they been legal.
Those three samples contained levels of micro-organisms and arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead that were below established standards, as well as pesticide residues with negligible health risk, a report from the national centre said.
Of the remaining samples, it said nine would have been considered unacceptable for sale due to the presence of pesticide residues, elevated heavy metal concentrations and indicators of unsanitary production.
The other eight samples would have required…
