Massachusetts health regulators temporarily closed two medical marijuana dispensaries after a test came up positive for a pesticide.
The dispensaries – which are owned by Healthy Pharms and are located in Cambridge and Georgetown – notified state officials of the test results and were then told they would have to cease retail sales “until further notice,” The Boston Globe reported.
In particular, a sample batch was found to have bifenthrin, “a pesticide commonly used in food products” but which is prohibited by the state for use in cannabis grows, the Globe reported.
Healthy Pharms said none of the contaminated cannabis was sold to patients, and the company’s attorney told the Globe that no marijuana plants were sprayed with bifenthrin.
According to the attorney, a room at the cultivation facility became contaminated after employees used an off-the-shelf product to sanitize the room before moving plants back in.
Some of the company’s plants then became contaminated with residual amounts of the pesticide, the attorney said.
“This is the department following the regulations to a T, and Healthy Pharms is doing their best to go along with that,” the attorney told the Globe.
Massachusetts MMJ companies have been under intense scrutiny by state regulators for years.
