Dangerous Pesticides Are Being Found In Colorado’s Weed
A CNN report published Wednesday found that at least one over-the-counter product tested positive for illegally high levels of the neurotoxin imidacloprid. CNN commissioned tests by an independent lab, and the report ultimately led to a recall of 2,362 pot products. A similar Denver Post study in September yielded similar findings -- some of the cannabis products tested had as much as six times the federally allowed limit on pesticides in consumable products.
If the pesticides had been found on, say, avocados, the products would have been taken off the shelves immediately. But Colorado's oversight of pesticides on marijuana has been limited, other than a handful of recalls and plant quarantines.
Colorado and other states that recently legalized marijuana are just beginning to grapple with the pesticide issue. An absence of federal regulation has left the states struggling to figure out how to pass pesticide legislation, how to enforce it and which agencies should be doing the enforcing.
Snip
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/colorado-marijuana-pesticides_5655fcf4e4b079b28189fb8c?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063
= new reply since forum marked as read
mildew, mold, and insects every year.
Products to treat these are created for both edible and non-edible crops. A fungus on a golf green would make golfers unhappy, so I need something that will take that out even if I have to grow in conditions that are ideal for, say, dollar spot or any of the others. The apple grower needs one too, but you may have to eat hers.
Microscopic bugs and mildew/mold spores are airborne contaminants so any movement of you or wind in the vicinity of the plant is enough to coat it liberally. That comes from the plants you passed while you were out, or what blew in your front door when you opened it. Indoor crops, by design, often create an environment ideal for these, so some thought has to be paid to them, and perhaps more depending on your crops. They are everywhere. I prefer to make treating these things part of my growing routine, and I use the fertilizers, water, and herbs with an eye toward this. Haven't seen any in a while, except in other folk's gardens. If you really want to see the bugs and PM, plant some lima beans outside. They like that stuff a lot.
Because the people have let the gov make cannabis illegal, the labeling and testing requirements which would normally protect us are of no use. The grower, even the upstanding grower with the best intentions, seeing a crop dying from fungus after 10 weeks and hundreds of hours and hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of investment may well not read the directions beyond how much to measure, if the product is supposed to save the crop. And not all of it is grown by people who can read. Or who care.
WA state is doing everything it can to encourage a healthy black market, adding to the problem while they take in some revenue from their stores and pat everyone on the back. Tens of thousands of new felons coming soon.
On the other hand, I suspect the sugar in you Starbucks will kill your ass quicker than the mold on the worst ditch weed, if the survival rate of 17 years olds is any indication, because they either move up, move on, or quit.
At the same time we subsidize sugar and look for a cure for cancers and diabetes. But that's another post...
Since it can't be shipped over state lines, and the growing season in CO, WA and OR are not the longest...
Pesticide use is easy to police. Some of the other emerging issues are nutrient waste and power consumption with the sodium and MH lights:
http://www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_28417456/pot-boom-spikes-denver-electric-demand-challenges-clean
GOLDEN — Surging electricity consumption by Colorado's booming marijuana industry is sabotaging Denver's push to use less energy — just as the White House perfects a Clean Power Plan to cut carbon pollution.
Citywide electricity use has been rising at the rate of 1.2 percent a year, and 45 percent of that increase comes from marijuana-growing facilities, Denver officials said Wednesday.
I think I got one crawling around on my computer screen, but everytime I hit him he just keeps moving! 
