MARIJUANA TESTER FINDS 'STREET-BOUGHT' POT UNSAFE

GAYLORD -- The owner of a Gaylord laboratory which tests locally grown
medical marijuana fears patients who use black-market pot may be
subjecting themselves to unsafe levels of mold and pesticides.

Dan Tomaski, a certified caregiver who runs Northern Laboratory
Services on North Center Avenue, said last month's court ruling, which
closed marijuana collectives across the state, forces some patients to
buy cannabis from street dealers. That pot, Tomaski said, can harbor
mold as well as pesticide at levels more than 60 times those allowed
for store-bought spinach.

Tomaski, 33, is hired by local caregiver growers to test their
marijuana for quality and purity. He dissolves a sample of marijuana
into a solution and injects it into a gas chromatograph, which gives
readings in parts per million (ppm) of pesticides as well as the
plant's active compounds -- THC, CBD and CBN. He also uses a lab
microscope to look for mold, which can cause respiratory problems,
especially in those with weak immune systems.

He said cannabis from local growers that was being sold at Gaylord's
collectives tested "100 percent free of pesticides."

Four samples of marijuana bought off the streets in Gaylord, Metro
Detroit and Traverse City, however, contained pesticides upwards of
440 ppm of permethrin, 630 ppm of cypermethrin, and 485 ppm of
beta-cyfluthrin. By comparison, for spinach, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) sets residual limits of permethrin at 20 ppm and
beta-cyfluthrin at 6 ppm. Tomaski said the USDA limit for cypermethrin
is 14 ppm.

Mold, dirt, and suspected insect droppings were also found in the
samples, according to Tomaski.

"These are unfit for consumption," he said, noting he's published
those findings on his Web site in what he calls "The Schwag Report."
"Schwag" is a slang term for low-grade marijuana.

"We published this report to show what some people would be forced
back into using if these collectives close," he said, referring to
last month's ruling. "It's making it more dangerous for patients. I
don't understand why courts are forcing patients back into that."

Last month, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled facilities where
marijuana is bought and sold are illegal and said they can be shut
down as a public nuisance.

Tomaski said locally produced medical marijuana contains, on average,
14 percent THC -- the most psychoactive compound in the plant and less
than one percent each of CBD and CBN. CBD counteracts the psychoactive
effects of THC. CBN has a sedative effect, he said. Some local
marijuana contains upwards of 25 percent THC, meaning patients have to
consume far less of the drug to achieve desired effect.

"Some of these (local) growers are turning out world-class cannabis,"
Tomaski said, noting his operation, as well as making marijuana
available in a retail environment, helps "raise the bar" on quality
among growers.

"Collectives have the goal of patient access to medicine, and we want
to make sure they have access to good medicine," he said.

Tomaski will attend a rally today (Wednesday) in Lansing to press
legislators for improved patient access to marijuana.