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FROM THE MAGAZINE

How Safe is Your Medicine?

Cannabis Contamination and the Medical Marijuana Patient

Some media have recently published horror stories about medical marijuana containing unhealthy and dangerous levels of pesticides or other toxins. As with any food or drug, contamination can happen accidentally; or through ignorance or ineptitude; or even by the deliberate actions of unprincipled people.

Of course no matter how poisons or foreign materials get into your cannabis, they can have serious implications for your health.

But there is no reason to panic. Remember that many “cannabis contamination” claims are simply not true; are exaggerations; and might even be baldfaced propaganda by the anti-marijuana lobby. That said, it is still prudent to inform yourself about weed integrity. After all, cannabis was prescribed to maintain or improve your health. Patients should always learn everything possible about the pros and cons of their medications.

That includes the medication called cannabis.

On October 8th of last year, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich revealed that his undercover detectives had purchased cannabis from local medical marijuana dispensaries. Sample analysis, he reported, revealed the presence of a pesticide widely used in Mexico.* His uncompromising conclusion: L.A. collectives are (a) Distributing compromised cannabis; and (b) Supporting criminal Mexican drug cartels.

But wait just a second. Why would L.A. dispensaries buy overpriced, questionable product from Mexico when so much market-priced U.S. weed is already available? The alarmist answer: much locally available cannabis is grown illegally right here, by armed Mexican cartels who have secretly infi ltrated our protected national parks and forests!

Say what?

Their scenario: heightened border surveillance after 9/11 drove the cartels across the U.S. border to farm their hemp. Growing hemp locally eliminates border-crossing risks and reduces shipping costs. They allegedly smuggle in pesticides and other pollutants long since banned in the U.S.

The usually progressive Huffington Post and MSNBC.com reported (10/11/08) that:

Seven hundred grow sites were discovered on U.S. Forest Service land in California alone in 2007 and 2008… Rat poison has been sprinkled over the landscape to keep animals away from tender plants. And many sites are strewn with the carcasses of deer and bears poached by workers…

Uh-oh! If this is true, then, besides illegally invading our sovereign territory, Mexican desperados are savaging the environment. Poisoning water sources from the Cascades to West Virginia. Even murdering our animals. It’s bad enough that they’re trying to hook our kids on toxic weed – but these beasts are also killing Bambi and Smokey!

But there’s another interpretation of the impact of this supposed “Mexican invasion.” Some commentators suggest that increased cannabis growing in the U.S. – by our own American growers – is cutting into the Mexican cartels’ business, providing cheaper and better quality cannabis that is more easily (and perhaps even less dangerously) accessible.

The truth of the “safe cannabis” situation obviously lies somewhere between the view that (a) Hemp is “ever healthful, never harmful” and (b) Ronald Reagan’s mind-whacking declaration that “…smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-Bomb blast.”

What could go wrong: a primer.

Cannabis contamination is possible at any stage of its journey from the earth into your bloodstream: Growing, processing, storing, shipping, even at the point of sale. Accidentally; naturally (as with insect infestation); even intentionally, unwholesome stuff can find its way into cannabis. It is not unknown for producers to add substances that boost product weight or appearance.

• Growers can add pesticides, herbicides or growth stimulants like nitrogen or potassium to improve the crop. And even experienced planters can be misinformed, a possibility underscored by the fact that there are no FDA or USDA guidelines for them to follow. (This issue is finally being addressed, as we shall see in our next installment.)
• Some observers believe that cannabis grown indoors is less likely to be high quality, and more likely to be compromised, than field-grown product.
• Storage is a purity issue as well. If cannabis stocks aren’t treated with antifungal or anti-mould agents, they can become impaired; even unhealthy. A 2006 study traced widespread pollution in Dutch “coffee shop” cannabis inventories.
• Illegal dealers and unethical (even if legitimate) retailers sometimes add substances to their cannabis to increase its weight. Sand, crumbs of glass and other unwholesome stuff somehow finds its way into supposedly wholesome marijuana. (Several lead poisonings reported in Leipzig hospitals in 2008 were traced to lead shavings in cannabis.)

Any impure substance ingested in sufficient quantities poses a health risk to the patient. So it’s reasonable to know what to watch out for.

Things to watch out for.

Bad weed – just like allergies – can produce acute reactions (immediate, or in several hours); delayed reactions (over weeks or months); or long term reactions (progressive or chronic organ damage, etc.). Any given side effect results from three factors: the specific contaminant; the amount ingested; and the patient’s personal makeup. Also as with allergies, what doesn’t bother one person may affect another badly.

Contaminated cannabis might produce any of a zillion symptoms: cramps, dizziness, nausea, sweating, unusual heartbeat, labored breathing. With smoked cannabis, a likely sign of trouble would probably be respiratory. Serious effects also include vomiting, neurological deficit, unconsciousness, convulsions or, in the most terrifying case (unlikely, but still possible): respiratory or cardiac arrest.

CONTAMINATION EXAMPLE: the “Grit Weed” factor.

“Grit weed” is slang for cannabis contaminated with sand, silicon or other abrasive additives. This would be done to “beef up” the plant’s weight to increase the price. Recently “grit weed” was actually the dominant product on the UK market.

How can you tell if the problem is grit weed?

Grit weed is fairly easy to spot. First of all, any experienced patient would probably notice that, although it looks the same as healthy cannabis, the fragrance isn’t as pungent.

And a careful look will reveal tiny specks that look like THC crystals, but which might in fact be silica dust.

You can also try the “THC taste test.” Put a smidge of your cannabis on your tongue and squish it around. Grind it between your teeth. If it feels sandy, it’s probably grit weed. Although this taste test can’t identify sophisticated new “micro contaminants,” several cannabis websites advertise inexpensive microscopes that should do the trick.

Let’s say you don’t find any grit. But you do notice an unusually sweet flavor. Your cannabis has probably been sugared! And while sugar presents no major health threat, it does show that someone has “beefed up” your weed’s weight for the sale. Not nice.

Inhaling any non-natural additive can lead to chest coughs and/or tightness; also sore mouth lining or ulcerations that last for several days. If you have any such symptoms, and suspect it’s related to your cannabis, stop smoking immediately and consult your doctor. If the link is confirmed, report the contamination to your dispensary. If they try to sidestep the issue, find a more reliable place to fill your prescriptions.

* There is some controversy regarding the relative toxicity of that pesticide, of the test methodology and of the validity of Mr. Trutanich’s conclusions.