Cannabis conundrum: Legal doesn’t mean clean; illicit isn’t always dirty

California cannabis regulators and industry defenders argue that despite the proliferation of pesticides found in legal weed, licensed products are still safer and purer than those sold on the underground market.

That isn’t always true, according to an analysis of tests conducted by The Times.

Of 16 cannabis products bought from unlicensed sellers or tobacco shops, half contained no quantifiable levels of pesticides. The pesticide adulteration rate matched that of products from California’s legal market, which mandates screening for 66 pesticides but ignores scores of other compounds The Times found.

The similarity between legal and illegal products “doesn’t shock me,” said Josh Swider, chief executive and co-founder of Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs, which provides cannabis testing services in California and Michigan. “Normally, the illicit market is just buying from the legal market brokers. It’s not like there really are two different markets....”

The limited tests offer a narrow glimpse into the world of unlicensed stores and tobacco shops, where there are no testing requirements, and little to no information available on the provenance of products. And the prevalence of counterfeit goods — three products bought in illicit shops carried the names of legal brands but were probably fakes — compounds the risk to consumers willing to gamble on what they get.

“The legal market’s oversight and accountability measures ensure far greater consumer safety than the unregulated alternative,” the California Department of Cannabis Control said in a prepared statement.

Unregulated products were more likely to be pesticide-free because they contained artificial forms of THC — Delta 8, HHC— that result from processing hemp through a number of chemical treatments.

Hemp-derived THC is much cheaper than the naturally grown drug, but requires chemical reactions and acids that create byproducts with unknown health consequences. “It’s not a pesticide problem, but it has other health implications,” Swider said.

Synthetic or converted THC was not confined to the illicit market. The Times found lab-created cannabinoids present in vapes sold by four legal brands — Phat Panda, Circles, Cloud and Flav.

These artificial compounds are prohibited in California’s legal market, but the state does not screen for them.

Infinite developed a test to detect artificial THC, a tool that could encourage compliance with regulations that prohibit the synthetic compound. Email records reviewed by The Times show that California regulators refused to validate the test, saying resources are focused “on verifying methods that are required by law.”

Michigan regulators, however, approved the tests, with three cannabis labs now offering the service and three others seeking certification.

Other dangers lurk in the marketplace.

A Runtz vape sold at an unlicensed outlet in East Los Angeles was found to have been cut with vitamin E acetate, the test results showed. Four years ago, vitamin E acetate, used to dilute vape cartridges, was strongly linked to the hospitalization of thousands of vape users and 68 deaths. The chemical was found in an illicit product. California does not screen for it in the regulated market.

Meanwhile, the heaviest pesticide loads were found in legal products. A Backpack Boyz vape bought at a state-licensed store in Atwater, for instance, contained 32 different pesticides. California regulators in October shut down the small state-licensed Van Nuys operation that had manufactured it and other contaminated products sold on the licensed market.

Backpack Boyz in June claimed its products containing pesticides were counterfeits from the illegal market, even though they had been bought at Backpack Boyz stores. The company since has not responded to requests for comment.

No contact information could be found for Runtz. Packaging for the tainted product carried a state cannabis sticker but bore no state license number or manufacturer name.

Where unregulated and licensed products differed most was in the kinds of pesticides they contained.

Illegal products most often carried chemicals on the state’s 66-chemical screening list — supporting a common belief that products that fail the state test are diverted to the illicit market.

Conversely, licensed products more commonly had pesticides for which the state does not screen. A third of state-legal cannabis products contained pymetrozine, which California does not test for.

The carcinogenic insecticide did not show up in a single unregulated product.