70% Of Medical Marijuana Products In Mississippi On Hold As Officials Retest For Pesticides

Nearly 70% of Mississippi's medical marijuana products are still on hold due to concerns about their compliance with regulatory standards. While there have been no reports of illnesses related to the halted products, the hold is affecting both dispensaries and consumers.

What happened: In December, the Mississippi Department of Health (MSDH) halted sales of products tested by Rapid Analytics due to compliance concerns. The owner

Mami Henry said that MSDH received an anonymous tip suggesting that the lab was not properly conducting pesticide tests for cannabis products. She added that the company sent all the original samples of products tested in the last two months to MSDH, which contracted another company to re-test. 

Greg Flynn of MSDH confirmed that the investigation concerns pesticides, writes Wlox. 

“It surrounds the use of pesticides,” Flynn said. “Were there pesticides present? Do they fall in the regulatory limits? As results come back in that are positive, products will be released back to their distributors and dispensaries. This will allow them to start selling those products once again.” 

Why it matters: A Pascagoula dispensary, The Herbalist, which recently opened, lost 60% of its medical marijuana inventory, reported the outlet. 

“The hold is the full range of everything from the cannabis flower, the concentrates, the edibles, the pre-rolls. Pretty much everything that was affected by that,” James Stone, owner of The Herbalist said. “They’re in the back in the vault, but I can’t sell them until further notice. The estimated range from one to maybe two months before testing not only the new products being put through the pipeline but also all the older ones that have been pulled off the shelves."

The Herbalist, which treats around 30 clients a day, acted quickly to provide as many medical marijuana products confirmed safe for patients. Thanks to this, Stone said, the business and consumers were not affected much. The Herbalist has shelves filled with full-spectrum marijuana flowers ranging in potency levels. 

“Every day I see so many people come in and they’re grateful they can stay off pharmaceutical medicines,” Stone said. 

What’s next: Waiting for retesting to be completed. MSDH has not provided a timeline for when it will be finalized. 

Now Read: 30-40 Times Higher THC Levels Than Permitted Found In Mississippi Weed Products, GOP Rep. Will Address Situation

Photo: Benzinga edit with images by Terrance Barksdale via Pexels