Health and safety violations abound in medical marijuana dispensaries.    We recently reported about the tainted products sold in California.  Colorado marijuana is often recalled because of the use banned pesticides, but now Massachusetts pot also has a big problem.

A news story about medical marijuana in Massachusetts  reported of moldy cannabis sold at one medical marijuana dispensary.   The report also alleged that employees in this dispensary dipped the product hydrogen peroxide to clean affected cannabis.

Said one source: “When I worked in cultivation everyone was getting red rashes. … No ventilation in the room and certainly no one forcing us to wear a mask for safety.”

A former employee claimed she fears she was exposed to moldy product and maybe other contamination, as a worker and as a consumer, that negatively impacted her health. She says she paid to have physical evaluations, the results of which showed her heavy metal tests very high (3x norm) for lead, high for cadmium.

Only three states, Connecticut, Minnesota and Arkansas, require pharmacists to dispense marijuana that claims to be “medical.”   

Records Request from Massachusetts Department of Public Health

To avoid the problem of children accidentally ingesting marijuana, as has happened California and Colorado,  Massachusetts forbids candies that resemble popular food products.   But  another news story reveals that marijuana -infused gummy bears are sold in Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health inspections of medical marijuana facilities were recently made public through a public records request. The inspections found many violations of state laws with most reports showing multiple violations.

Violations included:

1. Marijuana-infused gummies in violation of state law that forbids edible marijuana products from resembling commercially available candy.
2. Marijuana plants were placed in a normal dumpster instead of being ground up for disposal. This means that anyone, including kids, could get access to the plants.
3. Disorganized storage areas.
4. Unregistered dispensary agents.
5. Poor security (remember that under federal law marijuana is a controlled dangerous substance)
6. Not enough cameras in grow rooms.
7. A backup generator failed to kick in during a power outage.
8. Faults in alarm systems.
9. Plants were not properly labeled.
10. State testing turned up a contaminant in marijuana flower and pre-rolled joints.
11. Fulfilling orders by phone, which is only allowed under limited circumstances.
12. Leaving unsecured marijuana products in a kitchen.
13. Not reporting inventory discrepancies.
14. Deactivating a device meant to control door access.
15. Leaving the front door unlocked and unsecured.
16 Not immediately reporting 740 to 1,000 grams of missing kief, which is part of a marijuana plant.
17. Not properly verifying patient identification.
18. Insects in a bulk storage area.

 A dispensary in Alaska was also selling moldy weed.