So, this author isn’t the sharpest pencil in the box. Check out the reference to ‘synthetic marijuana strains’… :rollingonasslaughing:

http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2015/06/pesky-pesticides-in-our-pot/

There is a conundrum that exists within the current legal infrastructure for cannabis.  Namely, the inability for the federal government to advise cannabis farmers on which pesticides are safe to use and which are not.  If we were talking about, say, potatoes, for instance, the USDA would have clearly designated protocols and guidelines indicating which chemicals are okay to use on that particular crop.  Since cannabis is still a Schedule 1 drug federally under the Controlled Substances Act, various federal agencies are simply incapable of issuing legislative mandates or directives to farmers growing their cheebah cheebah.  Entomologist Whitney Cranshaw of Colorado State University cites this problematic situation explaining that, “In the absence of any direction on the subject of pesticide use on the crop has just devolved to whatever people think is working or they think is appropriate.”  Many are calling this unacceptable and demanding that governments catch-up to the stark realities facing the cannabis industry in 2015. Tobacco farmers, despite growing a far more dangerous crop, enjoy the privilege of having largely uniform codes when it comes to choosing what to protect their crops with.  The lack of clarity here is not only hurting the bottom line of farmers but also consumers whose safety is of paramount importance.

There are hosts of health-related concerns revolving around the usage of pesticides on cannabis.  Just earlier this year, Denver had a big scare wherein tens of thousands of plants had to be put on hold due to a safety scare.  Farmers lack of willingness to continually shuffle through various repellents and pesticides to see what works has prompted some to turn to developing synthetic marijuana strains which generally do not require as many chemicals to protect. However, synthetics bring about their own set of new concerns and recent reports seem to, at least in part, validate them.  The CDC reports a 300% increase in the number of deaths stemming from synthetic marijuana in the first 5 months of the year when compared to the same period in 2014.  Thus, the inability for farmers to safely protect their crops with pesticides is translating into deaths from unsafe and often unregulated synthetic materials.

All of this comes on the heels of an announcement that the United States Senate Appropriations Committee voted and passed (20-10) an amendment to prevent the federal government from interfering with individual states seeking to develop or implement medical marijuana laws. While certainly not a solution to farmers lack of guidance on what chemicals to use on their crops, this is definitely a step in the right direction.  Lack of federal guidelines has not prevented a few select states from releasing lists of acceptable pesticides including but not limited to: Colorado, Nevada, Washington and Illinois. In conjunction, it would appear this means that the federal government will not interfere with states attempting to set guidelines for what chemicals to spray on cannabis crops.  As has been pointed out, marijuana’s status as a Schedule 1 drug is precisely the roadblock in the way of further research that could prove it has no business sharing space on a list with the likes of Heroin and LSD.  Only time will tell if, how, and when the federal government will take action on and set mandates for pesticides usage on cannabis.