Justin Singer makes edible cannabis products in Colorado under the names Ripple and Ript, and over the years, he has become increasingly concerned about the state’s lack of enforcement of the industry and what that means for the safety of the marijuana supply.
A breaking point came when he released a much cheaper product to the market, and increased sales by five times, changes he expected would certainly trigger an inspection from the state Marijuana Enforcement Division.
“They never showed up,” said Singer.
What kind of guy wants an inspection from the state?
“The kind of guy who wants an honest playing field,” said Singer. “Professional sports would not be fun if there were no referees and one team was allowed to cheat, while one team tried to follow the rules. It would be very not fun to watch, to participate in.”
So he had people buy 15 different marijuana products from dispensary shelves and tested them at a lab. The testing data, which he shared with CPR News, shows four products would have failed state limits for yeasts and mold, one by more than six times the state limit.
And Singer looked for things Colorado doesn’t require testing for, like coliform bacteria, which signals unsanitary conditions in the grow or in storage. Four of the 15 products had high levels of coliform. Chemical components of pesticides were found in four of the products.
“I consider Colorado weed today to be on par with New York street weed in 2008. In fact, I think the cartels probably cared more about their consumers than a lot of people here,” said Singer. “I’ve got the data to back it.”
Kevn J. Beaty/DenveriteRipple Cannabis Company co-founder Justin Singer in his Commerce City headquarters. Dec. 20, 2024.
State authorities and growers push back
There’s some form of legal marijuana permitted in 40 states now, but it remains federally illegal. The Biden Administration started a process to reschedule marijuana, to a lower-threat drug category, but in the meantime, federal agencies, like the Food and Drug Administration, don’t regulate the growing or testing of cannabis.
So 40 states have 40 different systems. In Massachusetts and Alabama, for instance, state marijuana authorities require testing for coliform. Colorado does not. Even if states test for the same microbes, they often have different limits. Colorado’s standard for total yeasts and molds is 10 times lower than Michigan’s limits for recreational cannabis flowers.
Since 2014, consumers have purchased $16.8 billion in cannabis products in Colorado, and there have been no widespread reports of people getting sick or dropping dead. But some in the industry and health and safety experts say the long-term ramifications of smoking contaminated weed are not known, and they are urging the state to do more to protect consumers.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteA packaging machine drops gummies into bags in the Ripple Cannabis Company’s Commerce City production facility. Dec. 20, 2024.
Colorado was the first state to sell legal recreational marijuana, and many states use Colorado’s regulations as a model. But the system was set up for one primary purpose: to prevent diversion to the black market and keep the feds out of the state.
Over the years, as the industry became well established, the Marijuana Enforcement Division required testing of marijuana for things like heavy metals and yeasts and molds, and set limits for the contaminants. The MED issues health and safety advisories when contaminants are found.
The director of the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division, Dominique Mendiola, would not comment directly on Singer’s data nor on whether the supply of marijuana is safe but said they said there is a robust process in place for ensuring marijuana is free of contaminants.
“There are instances where we identify those risks and act,” said Mendiola.
Kevn J. Beaty/DenveriteBrutteny Pielet pours Ript gummy gel into molds in the Ripple Cannabis Company’s Commerce City production facility. Dec. 20, 2024.
Kevn J. Beaty/DenveriteCesar Murillo pulls gummy molds onto baking racks in the Ripple Cannabis Company’s Commerce City production facility. Dec. 20, 2024.
The MED has issued 97 health and safety notices since 2016. But the advisories are confusing, and include marijuana products that were sold and likely consumed months or years ago.
“We do see ongoing need to continue to work on that,” said Mendiola. “And ensure that we are reaching consumers effectively, that we are providing information that they ultimately need to determine: do they have certain products that we’ve identified as a potential threat to health and safety?”
She said in recent months they updated the health and safety notice page online, and will soon distribute flyers to help educate consumers on safety issues.
Mendiola acknowledged that the marijuana industry is suffering, businesses are closing, limiting license revenue that funds MED enforcement. She noted that they are downsizing their offices in Lakewood to reduce costs.
“We’ve been, for a few years now, looking at those opportunities to save costs, cut expenses, in a way that still allows us and ensures that we’re able to carry out our regulatory obligations,” said Mendiola.
Marijuana growers, meanwhile, insist unequivocally that the supply is safe, and that MED is active in inspecting their operations.
“I think at this point in Colorado you’re dealing with the safest weed you can have in the United States,” said Ethan Shaw, co-founder of The Flower Collective. “At the end of the day there’s a lot of things Colorado’s learned that other states haven’t learned yet, and one of those, the big one is heavy metals.”
Shaw, who said he was inspected a few months ago by the state, said anything outside of the regulated market in Colorado, like hemp-derived products, has little to no safety regulations and should be avoided.
“That is really where you need to be worried about heavy metals, mold, mildew, filth, all of these other things,” said Shaw.
Shaw also noted that the rate of recalls in Colorado has slowed, after a major increase in 2023. He said that the financial struggles of the industry in Colorado mean fewer producers.
“The ones who are leftover they’re producing [cannabis] that’s the best that you’ve been able to get in terms of consumer safety,” said Shaw.
Scientists say more consumer protections are needed
Outside experts are deeply concerned about marijuana product safety, even in Colorado’s regulated market. They don’t totally blame state regulators, since there is little to no research on the health impacts of different contaminants in cannabis. It’s not definitely known if any state’s testing system is looking for the right things at the right levels.
“It’s hard to make judgments on if it’s right or wrong when there’s like zero data to really go into the health impacts,” said Tess Eidem, a senior research scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder Aerobiology and Disinfection lab.
She said there’s some research on molds like Aspergillus, which can in rare cases lead to serious medical issues, especially for immunocompromised marijuana users. But there’s no data on how smoking versus vaping, for instance, affects the amount of contaminants that end up in the lungs.
Kevn J. Beaty/DenveriteJoe Ciulla handles Ript gummies before they’re packaged, at the Ripple Cannabis Company’s Commerce City production facility. Dec. 20, 2024.
What is clear, said Eidem, is that marijuana growers are allowed to use irradiation technology to treat their product when it fails testing. The process is approved in food, with required labeling. She said that a grower can hit the cannabis buds with X-ray until it passes testing. The marijuana industry insists that the process is safe, but Eidem said there’s no research on that with cannabis.
“I think the first step there is labeling, being transparent about what has been treated,” said Eidem.
The Food and Drug Administration has endorsed irradiation as safe for food products, citing 30 years of research, but labeling is required when used. That’s not the case with Colorado cannabis.
The Marijuana Enforcement Division was prepared to require labeling for cannabis that’s been treated to pass testing, but the industry successfully added a provision to a bill in the 2024 legislative session in Colorado to ban a label.
Marijuana is federally illegal, and so federal safety agencies, like the FDA, do not regulate grow operations. If they did, there would likely be rules about how the marijuana is grown — good manufacturing practices. The basic formula is that a clean facility, clean air and water, equals a clean product. That’s what’s required for things like salad greens. Right now, none of that is required in marijuana, in any state, not just Colorado.
“If we require that dog food follow this, but we don’t require that for cannabis, something that many people are using as medicine, to follow these kind of basic food safety guidelines, then I don’t know what the industry is doing,” said Eidem. “And I know that the industry already feels like it’s overregulated and in some ways it very much is.”
Kevn J. Beaty/DenveriteA machine doles out gummies for packaging in the Ripple Cannabis Company’s Commerce City production facility. Dec. 20, 2024.
Colorado was the first state to sell legal recreational marijuana, and rules were written with a primary purpose: to keep it off the black market. There’s a seed-to-sale tracking system and cameras all through the grow warehouses. Safety rules came later, and the state acknowledged the gap and increased its science staff over the years.
Currently, what’s required is that products pass a final test. The process can be onerous, though, on growers, who are already suffering a prolonged downturn in sales prices. Stores and grows are closing.
When a product fails testing, for mold like Aspergillus, which are everywhere in the environment, it adds more costs for treatment and then more testing. Yet there’s little data on the health risks of these contaminants.
Still, there’s concern about what can get through testing, if products are being recalled months and years after they were sold. That suggests either the product was contaminated at some point after it left the grow or in storage — or testing is not always finding dirty weed.
Kevn J. Beaty/DenveriteAnthony Lobato packages Ript gummies at the Ripple Cannabis Company’s Commerce City production facility. Dec. 20, 2024.
Shaun Opie, with E4 Biosciences in Michigan, is an expert in marijuana contaminants and lab testing. He said the money sunk into a harvest means there’s tremendous pressure to get it to market.
“The desire to have a $250,000 harvest pass (an inspection for contaminants) is very high,” said Opie.
Opie said it would be a good idea for states to implement a shelf surveillance testing program, to monitor the product that actually makes it to consumers.
Thomas Mitchell reviewed cannabis products for Westword and is now an editor for the weekly publication. He’s written extensively on health and safety advisories and recalls issued by the state. He said it’s a buyer-beware market.
“People assume it’s safe because of guardrails that are in place by state enforcement,” said Mitchell. “But when you actually look at the end result, I think that’s up for debate definitely.”
There’s a dispensary he can walk to, but he gets in his car to drive to a place that has marijuana he can trust. That’s a luxury available to someone who has deep knowledge of the industry.
“You’re not gonna keel over if you buy some cheap suspect weed,” said Mitchell. “But 10 years down the road maybe you develop a lung problem that someone who was smoking cleaner weed won’t.”
Outside experts are deeply concerned about marijuana product safety, even in Colorado’s regulated market. Read More
