TAINTED MARIJUANA KILLS CALIFORNIA MAN: CONTAMINATED PLANTS FOUND STATEWIDE

By Miriam Raftery

February 10, 2017 (San Diego) — After doctors attributed the death of a California man to medical marijuana contaminated by a deadly fungus, the University of California, Davis Medical Center arranged testing on 20 medical marijuana samples statewide.  The vast majority were found to be contaminated with dangerous fungi and bacteria, CBS news reports.

The medical facility had noticed multiple patients with a rare fungus, which prompted the investigation.  The victim who died was relatively young and though immune compromised, was battling a cancer that was considered beatable when he started taking cannabis to help with chemotherapy side effects.

Dr. Michael Hirt at UCD’s medical center told CBS that consumers should avoid marijuana with signs of contamination including a stale, musty odor and black, green or light blue spots on marijuana leaves.

According to a press release at UC Davis’ website, they warn that smoking, vaping or inhaling aerosolized marijuana could pose a grave risk to patients, especially those with leukemia, lymphoma, AIDS or conditions requiring immune-suppressing therapies.

The study findings are accepted for publication in Clinical Microbiology and Infection in a research letter titled, “A microbiome assessment of medical marijuana.” 

According to the authors, it is unknown if consuming marijuana in baked goods is safe, but for now, they advise their patients who wish to use the drug that it is probably a better option. They believe that the high temperatures involved in cooking would likely destroy the microorganisms, but they caution that they are unaware of experimental evidence to back up this recommendation. They emphasize that temperatures reached by smoking marijuana are not sustained for long enough to render it safe.

The researchers are currently conducting more studies to further refine the significance of the findings.

The investigators noted that conducting marijuana research is tremendously challenging in a public university. Despite legalization within states passing cannabis legislation, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency does not permit possession of marijuana for research purposes within institutions receiving federal funding. For this reason, the actual testing of study samples was conducted in a private laboratory and existing departmental funds at UC Davis were used for this research.