A legislative committee gave final approval Tuesday to a regulatory change adjusting the allowable amount of mold and yeast in the medical marijuana supply.
Connecticut has two laboratories that test medical marijuana. The change, proposed by the Department of Consumer Protection and ratified by the Legislative Regulation Review Committee, means an increase in the total allowable amount of mold and yeast for cannabis tested at one lab and a decrease for the other.
The state officially proposed the change at the end of last year, arguing that testing standards evolve after new research is published; patients objected because of concerns about the product’s safety.
Legislators are dealing with an issue that they might not have imagined just a few years ago: The acceptable amount of mold in marijuana.
But for some patients who use medical marijuana, the question isn’t a novelty but a serious matter of health.
At the end of last year, the state Department of Consumer Protection proposed a change that would set the maximum amount of colony-forming mold and yeast units in medical marijuana at 100,000 per gram and would allow no traceable amounts of a breed of mold called Aspergillus that is known to cause a lung infection.
Supporters of the legislation said it would help keep sales in the market regulated; some hemp and cannabis advocates were wary it would re-criminalize marijuana.