Weeks after Maryland cultivator ForwardGro had their products pulled from the state\u2019s dispensary shelves, patients are still in the dark about why it happened.<\/p>\n
The saga began this summer, when former ForwardGro employees submitted sworn affidavits to Maryland\u2019s General Assembly, alleging that ForwardGro used illegal pesticides. Three months later, the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission issued an administrative hold on the products. Now, three weeks after that hold was placed, Maryland\u2019s patients have no idea why \u2014 or what they could have been at risk of exposure to.<\/p>\n
While the state is calling the action a precautionary measure, it only adds to the troubles\u00a0Maryland<\/a>\u00a0patients have faced over the years they waited for access. Now that they finally got that access, the idea the product would be filled with pesticides is very disconcerting.<\/p>\n FowardGro previously had earned the distinction of being Maryland\u2019s first licensed cultivator. Now, they have the distinction of being the first to publicly draw the ire of the state\u2019s regulatory agency. In comments to the Washington Post, the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission declined to comment about the ongoing investigation, but did cite state regulations that authorize the agency to act if it \u201chas reasonable suspicion of an operational failure or of conditions that create a likelihood of diversion, contamination, or a risk to the public health.\u201d They did say the investigation was well underway.<\/p>\n One of the craziest pieces of information to come out of\u00a0the Washington Post\u2019s reporting<\/a>\u00a0on the recall is the fact this wasn\u2019t even the first incident of a cannabis recall in Maryland, and like FowardGro, the details around the other issues are hazy. MMCC Executive Director Joy Strand told the Post that the state had previously issued other quarantines. Strand did not go into details and declined to comment on how many there were or how the situation was resolved.<\/p>\n Those taking part in Maryland\u2019s burgeoning cannabis industry are also wondering what exactly is going on.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Mackie Barch serves as chair of the Maryland Wholesale Medical Cannabis Trade Association. She said she is at a loss for why people are not getting more information from the state.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a patient perspective, it\u2019s a little bit scary,\u201d Barch told the Post. \u201cFrom a company perspective, if you have this happen, it\u2019s so detrimental to your business. It kills you reputationally, but secondarily to that, it impacts your overall financial performance.\u201d<\/p>\n Others found the lack of transparency concerning as to not make the same mistakes that ForwardGro is accused of, whatever they may be.<\/p>\n FowardGro<\/a>\u00a0isn\u2019t speaking on the ongoing investigation, but they have previously framed the comments from the former employees as an attack on the business. The employees had claimed the pesticides regiment was in response to a spread of issues, including powdery mildew and spider mites.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are cooperating with the Commission and working to learn more about the basis of the hold and to resolve this matter,\u201d ForwardGro spokeswoman Vicki Bendure said. \u201cAll ForwardGro\u2019s products have passed pesticide testing by an independent, state-approved lab, and ForwardGro remains committed to providing patients in Maryland with quality medical cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n Morgan Fox from the\u00a0National Cannabis Industry Association<\/a>\u00a0reflected on how difficult it must be for the state to find the balance between patient safety and protecting the business\u2019s reputation until they have been proven in the wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the most important thing is that patients know not to consume these particular products at this time,\u201d Fox told Cannabis Now. \u201cIt is generally better to err on the side of transparency when it comes to issues like this, but the commission is calling this a \u2018precautionary\u2019 hold, and publicly stating their suspicions before the investigation is concluded, which could have serious impacts on the business regardless of the outcome of that investigation. It\u2019s a tough call.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the main public benefits of regulating cannabis, apart from not putting people in cages for smoking a plant, is to protect people against the nasty pesticides that can proliferate in the illicit market. It will be fascinating to see exactly how things play out on the state\u2019s side once it\u2019s all said and done. But with the lack of communication about previous holds, it can be understandably tough to have faith.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/b>, do you know if your cannabis has pesticides in it?<\/p>\n The post Pesticide Scare: Maryland Gives Few Details Into Month-Long Product Recall<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Weeks after Maryland cultivator ForwardGro had their products pulled from the state\u2019s dispensary shelves, patients are still in the dark about why it happened. The saga began this summer, when former ForwardGro employees submitted sworn affidavits to Maryland\u2019s General Assembly, alleging that ForwardGro used illegal pesticides. Three months later, theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,170,6322,6323,443,549,6324,1419,184],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30254"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30255,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30254\/revisions\/30255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Pesticide Scare: Maryland Gives Few Details Into Month-Long Product Recall<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"