{"id":12971,"date":"2015-10-06T08:07:15","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T15:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/pot-pesticide-flap-brings-lawsuit-in-colorado\/"},"modified":"2015-10-06T08:07:15","modified_gmt":"2015-10-06T15:07:15","slug":"pot-pesticide-flap-brings-lawsuit-in-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/pot-pesticide-flap-brings-lawsuit-in-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Pot pesticide flap brings lawsuit in Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER<\/strong> \u2014 Two marijuana users in Colorado filed a lawsuit Monday against a pot business they said used an unhealthy pesticide to grow their weed \u2014 a case that lawyers say is the first product liability claim in the nation involving the legal marijuana industry.<\/p>\n

The case underscores disagreement over what chemicals should be allowed in the cultivation of pot and leaves the plaintiffs facing a dilemma: The U.S. government still regards almost all marijuana as an illicit drug and there are no federal safety guidelines for growing it.<\/p>\n

The state of Colorado has approved a list of pesticides that are acceptable to grow pot, but it\u2019s far from complete and leaves out several pesticides that are commonly used on both food and tobacco.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit filed in state court targets use of a fungicide called Eagle 20 EW by a Denver-based pot company called LivWell, where authorities quarantined thousands of plants earlier this year, saying they had been treated with the pesticide.<\/p>\n

Eagle 20 EW is commonly used on grapes and hops but can become dangerous when heated and is banned for use on tobacco. No research exists on whether the fungicide is safe to use on pot that will be eaten.<\/p>\n

LivWell insists its products are safe, and authorities released the company\u2019s confiscated plants after they tested at acceptable levels.<\/p>\n

Still, the plaintiffs insist that LivWell should be punished for using a chemical not listed by the state as acceptable for use on pot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe case is all about making sure that the cannabis industry is safe for consumers,\u201d said Steven Woodrow, an attorney for the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n

LivWell lawyer Dean Heizer said the nine-shop chain no longer uses Eagle 20 EW and added that no consumer illnesses have been linked to marijuana pesticides in Colorado or any other state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no reason to believe our product is not perfectly safe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Colorado is one of four states that have legalized the sale of recreational marijuana. Oregon and Washington state also allow such sales. Alaska could see retail purchases next year.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates pesticides, told Colorado and Washington state authorities in June that they could apply to have some cannabis-related chemicals approved through what\u2019s called a special local need registration. But that process could take years.<\/p>\n

News reports about pesticide questions seem to be spurring more government oversight, at least in Colorado. Denver authorities in September announced two marijuana recalls for unauthorized pesticide use.<\/p>\n

In addition. Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman has assigned fraud investigators to review whether some marijuana companies are improperly using the word \u201corganic\u201d on products.<\/p>\n

Alison Malsbury, a Seattle attorney who has reviewed product liability potential in the marijuana industry and isn\u2019t involved in the Denver lawsuit, called the legal action a harbinger of things to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re going to be seeing a lot of similar lawsuits in other states,\u201d Malsbury said, pointing out that the nation\u2019s largest marijuana producer, California, has no pot regulations at all. Medical marijuana is grown and sold in California but recreational sales remain against state law.<\/p>\n

\u201cStates need to develop comprehensive lab-testing requirements and guidelines about what pesticides are OK to use on this product,\u201d Malsbury said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be treated no differently than food or beverages. We\u2019re not there yet. But it\u2019s headed that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story has been corrected to say LivWell\u2019s plants were quarantined, not seized.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/APkristenwyatt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DENVER \u2014 Two marijuana users in Colorado filed a lawsuit Monday against a pot business<\/a> they said used an unhealthy pesticide to grow their weed \u2014 a case that lawyers say is the first product liability claim in the nation involving the legal marijuana industry. The case underscores disagreement over what chemicals should be allowed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":12972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-12971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12971"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}