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State authorities issued an advisory Friday after finding heightened levels of mold and pesticides in several strains of medical cannabis grown in Piscataquis County.
Maine’s Office of Cannabis Policy is warning patients not to consume two strains of contaminated medical cannabis grown by Northwoods Caregiver LLC in Shirley Mills, a town of fewer than 300 people.
One strain, Blackberry Mint, contained more than 18 times the level of mold than the state says is safe. The other strain, Banana Punch, contained nearly three times the state’s acceptable threshold for the pesticide piperonyl butoxide.
William Fortin, who runs Northwoods Caregiver, said the contaminated flower has been taken off his shelves.
OCP spokesperson Alexis Soucy said the advisory was issued after testing was conducted following a patient’s complaint of an “adverse health reaction” from smoking the tainted product.
Smoking cannabis with unsafe levels of mold and yeast can cause respiratory and sinus infections, headaches, dizziness and skin rashes. In some cases, deadly mycotoxins can be inhaled and cause acute and sometimes long-term health issues.
Piperonyl butoxide, the pesticide in question, is mildly toxic to humans. It can cause irritation of the respiratory tract, skin and eyes.
OCP’s advisory about the tainted weed is not a recall. Under Maine law, OCP can only recall products from Maine’s recreational cannabis market, Soucy said, not medical.
And because Maine’s medical cannabis industry is not subject to mandatory inventory testing or product tracking, Soucy said the agency has a limited ability to find tainted medical weed and remove it from the market.
“Because OCP lacks the authority to require these products to be removed from the supply chain, the Office will work with Northwoods Caregiver and urge staff to voluntarily remove contaminated products from the store,” Soucy wrote in an email Friday.
“OCP has no verification of whether there are other potentially contaminated products in relation to this incident or store,” she added.
Fortin, who grows cannabis and sells it at his Shirly Mills storefront, told the Press Herald he was somewhat confused by the advisory.
“We had two different test results, one passed and one didn’t. That’s about all I can say,” Fortin said. “One time it passed, the same batch, and the next time it didn’t.”
“We’ve got a meeting with the state next week,” he added.
Friday’s advisory is only the second warning the OCP has issued about medical cannabis. The first came in January, when testing found unsafe levels of various pesticides inside a half dozen strains of cannabis concentrates sold at MarijuanaVille stores across the state.
To date, the agency has issued five recalls in the state’s recreational market, mostly for unsafe levels of mold and yeast.
Dylan Tusinski is an investigative reporter with the Maine Trust for Local News' quick strike team, where his stories largely focus on money, drugs and government accountability. He has written about international… More by Dylan Tusinski
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