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In her recent State of the Budget address, Gov. Janet Mills called Maine’s medical cannabis program “the wild, wild west.”
Cannabis was decriminalized in Maine in 1976 and medical cannabis legalized in 1999. We have one of the oldest medical programs in the country and one of few, if not the only, where patients can purchase directly from the person growing their medicine. It is a program I am proud to be a part of, and I am disheartened by misinformation coming from the governor, DAFS and the Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP), which characterizes it as unsafe and underregulated.
There has been consistent messaging that our program does not have tracking and that our products are untested and therefore unsafe, frequently referencing an OCP report on-off-the shelf testing of a very small selection of medical cannabis (120 of 1,823 registrants in 2023, or 6.5%). This misinformation erodes public confidence in the medical cannabis industry and I would like to provide some clarity.
Regarding tracking, a registrant in the medical cannabis program is required to track every time that cannabis is transferred into or out of their custody. This must be done with a “trip ticket,” which records the date, time and location of the transfer, the registration number of both parties involved and description of the material transferred.
Additionally, we are required to maintain a transaction log with this same information, and include a photo identification number of the person we transfer material to/from. Based on my experience in the National Organic Program, the only additional information required to do a full seed-to-sale trace back would be planting and harvest records (which many cultivators already maintain) and a record of current product inventory. It is not true that there is no tracking in the medical program.
Regarding testing, the OCP report Harmful Contaminants in Maine’s Medical Cannabis Program asserts that “50 samples, or 42%, contained at least one contaminant that would have failed testing according to the mandatory testing standards set for Maine’s Adult Use Cannabis Program.” However, 60% of these failures (30/50) were for total yeast and mold, tests that the manufacturer states “are unable to differentiate between pathogenic, beneficial and benign yeast and molds, making them poor indicators of safety. A low result does not mean a cannabis sample is free of pathogens. A high result doesn’t mean a sample is harmful to consumers. This is especially true in cannabis, which has a diverse microbiome of beneficial microbes that are not harmful to humans.”
Cannabis recalls in adult use in Maine have been due to failures for total yeast and mold, with no evidence of the presence of harmful or dangerous pathogens. This testing is inconsistent with the Adult Use Statue, which authorizes testing for “dangerous yeasts, molds and mildew,” not testing for total yeast and mold. These recalls create fear and distrust of products from our state’s regulated market and have not demonstrated an ability to affect public health outcomes.
The Legislature has repeatedly rejected bills and proposed rules that would mandate testing and seed-to-sale software based tracking in the medical program due to the significant impact it would have on cost to patients and the small businesses that make up a large portion of the medical program.
Industry members have asserted that they do not want to consider mandatory testing in medical until it is first fixed and made effective in adult use. Aside from the inappropriate application of total count microbial tests, there are concerns about tests being self-sampled, labs being privately run, inconsistencies in lab results from different labs and in samples from the same batch.
Another testing issue, which will be discussed this upcoming legislative session, is remediation and irradiation of cannabis products. These treatments enable products to pass microbial testing, which have become popular in the adult use industry as a tool to get products to market.
With many bills addressing these issues in the 132nd Legislature, I am hoping lawmakers, stakeholders and the department can collaborate on issues of testing and tracking with conversations based on scientific evidence and pragmatic efforts to honestly assess potential public health risks, rather than creating and promoting an illusion of safety.
Opinion: Federal cuts to Medicaid will harm Maine children
“}]] Scaremongering by Gov. Mills and others on the subject of tracking and testing is very disheartening. Read More
