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• Pesticide questions pile up for California regulators

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In the L.A.Times, Paige St. John reports that California’s Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) is scrambling to test products for pesticides. The agency also acknowledged having to rely on other state agencies to do pesticide testing.

All of its pesticide related recalls since an L.A. Times/WeedWeek investigation published last month have been for one banned pesticide, chlorfenapyr “despite evidence of much broader contamination and long after most of those products have sold out on store shelves,” the Times reports.

“We continue to have example after example of the abysmal regulation,” Jonatan Cvetko, executive director of the United Cannabis Business Association told the Times. “Increasingly, our government continues to give us and the consumers less and less reason to be in the legal market. They must be held accountable for it.”

DCC director Nicole Elliott has not substantially addressed these issues.

Despite recently stepping up enforcement efforts, the L.A. Times editorialized that the DCC is “failing consumers and the legal market by allowing contaminated weed to be certified and sold as safe.”

• This week DCC shuttered California Cannabis Testing Labs, but several of its alleged violations had been acknowledged by staff during a lab visit in February 2022.
  WeedWeek 

Meanwhile, several operators have launched their own product safety initiatives. Santa Barbara Co.-based Raw Garden posted that it ran expanded testing panels (like those run for the LAT/WW story) on  27 storebought vapes and found alarming levels of harmful chemicals that are not restricted for use on California cannabis. It has not named the brands involved.
@RawGarden

Also:

• Santa Barbara Co.-based Autumn Brands crowed about its pesticide-free grow.
  KSBY
• Today at the state fair there’s a panel “Is my cannabis product safe?”
  @californiacannabisindustry

Federal:

• The DEA comment period on reschduling closed with 42,000 responses. Of those an analysis by data shop Headset found that 35% favored reschduling and 57% favored descheduling. A group of GOP lawmakers want answers on the “unusual” review process behind the White House’s reschduling push.
  Marijuana Moment
• Canna Law Blog assessed vice president Kamala Harris’ record on weed. Reason says she has consistently supported legalization.

Business:

• New numbers from economist Beau Whitney indicate just over a quarter of cannabis businesses are profitable.
  Cultivated News
• A Cookies dispensary agreed to pay $350,000 to settle a dispute with New Mexico regulators over violations at the opening of an Albuquerque shop.
• Consultant Juliana Whitney posted on why con artists love the cannabiz.
• Law360 has a roundup of state Delta-8 THC legislation.

State and local:

• New York’s regulator saw a leadership exodus following months of criticism and calls from Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) for an agency overhaul. The state also proposed rules that would enable more dispensary advertising.
  Green Market Report, Foley Hoag
  
• Nevada issued a warning on dietary supplements and other additives found in some dispensary products.
• Delaware MED businesses got the green light to convert to REC.
  Delaware Business Now
• Florida hemp players, and Gov. Ron DeSantis(R), are lining up against the November REC ballot initiative, which is backed by Florida-based Trulieve and other MSOs.
  MJBiz
• The ex-wife of a Michigan industry pioneer, entered the weed market.
  Crain’s Detroit Business
• Ohio REC sales are still stalled.
  WTVG
• South Side Weekly reports on MSO Green Thumb Industries’ effort to quash an Illinois bill that would allow more shops to sell MED, which is taxed at a lower rate. GTI has called the bill “neither operationally viable nor comprehensive enough for what Illinois patients deserve.”

Health and science:

• Public health types say “smart vapes” with games could get kids hooked on nicotine.
  LA Times
• States struggle to implement effective environmental regulation of the industry.
  MJBiz
• A study found prenatal cannabis use tied to adverse maternal health outcomes during pregnancy.
  HealthDay

Fun and interesting:

• Granny Thelma enjoyed Embarc‘s cannabis lounge at the California State Fair.
• Snoop Dogg hoisted the Olympic torch in Paris.
  @HighTimesMagazine
• The New Yorker reckoned with The Dead at The Sphere.

State:

• Recruitment for the DCC’s Cannabis Advisory Committee closes July 31.
  KymKemp

Business:

• The U.S. SEC sued a private equity firm accusing it of running a $38M ponzi scheme.
  Bloomberg Law
• Sales and marketing platform Petalfast expanded to New York.

Local:

• Fresno city council overturned the approval of a dispensary. A separate Fresno shop faces headaches following a change in ownership.
  The Fresno Bee, The Sun
  
• West Hollywood honored Whoopi Goldberg for her activism and entrepreneurship.
  AfroTech

Company milestones:

• Planet 13 announced a new non-cannabis lifestyle brand and named MMA star Chito Vera as its first sponsored athlete.

Equity:

• Cannabis Buyer’s Club Berkeley president Aundre Speciale marked 18 years since the raid on her Venice Beach Wellness Collective.