Washington Officials Shut Down Cannabis Operations at Former Orchard Due to Prior DDT Use

Washington state regulators shut down operations at several outdoor cannabis farms and processing facilities after testing revealed high levels of a dangerous pesticide used at the site, a former orchard, decades ago.

Full story after the jump.

Washington State cannabis regulators have stopped operations at several outdoor cannabis farms and processing facilities located on a former fruit orchard after testing found high levels of a dangerous pesticide used at the site decades ago, the Associated Press reports. The Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) found DDE at the site, a byproduct of the pesticide DDT which was banned in the U.S. in 1972.

LCB Spokesperson Brian Smith said that while the agency is “very concerned about the jobs and businesses” at stake by closing down the site, the agency felt “it needed to get a message out to our licensees and to take action for public safety.”

Regulators last week issued “administrative holds” on 16 producer licenses and two processing licenses in the area, forcing them to cease operations until further notice. It’s unclear how many businesses were affected as companies can hold multiple licenses in the state.

In an interview with the AP, Walden Cannabis CEO Anders Taylor called the LCB’s decision “completely arbitrary” and said the agency has not provided him with test results or warned him that the hold was coming.

“Orchards used DDT for a generation, and that caused widespread contamination throughout the Pacific Northwest and the whole country, really. I’m still trying to process what this means.” — Taylor to the AP

The LCB is also working with businesses to determine whether products tainted with DDE contamination made it to market so they can be pulled from shelves. The agency is also asking the affected businesses to issue recalls.

This is likely to be the first time the LCB has issued an administrative hold related to the previous use of pesticides, and it is the first time it has issued a hold covering an entire geographic area rather than an isolated business, the board said in an email to the AP. DDE is not one of the pesticides screened for under the state’s cannabis testing protocols.

Get daily cannabis business news updates. Subscribe

Have an additional perspective to share? Send us a message to let us know, and if your comment is chosen by our editors it could be featured here.

End


Ganjapreneur is made possible by our partners:

Latest Cannabis News

View all news Get email updates

Featured Business Profiles

Create a profile View all categories

From Our Partners