Make Mine Organic:-)

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By MICHELLE LOCKE, Associated Press Writer

 

BERKELEY, Calif. - Medical-marijuana growers in Mendocino County — a

Northern California outpost that is home to vegans, vintners,

libertarians and aging hippies — want to have their pot certified as

organic.

 

The notion of pesticide-free pot is making some people smile. But

county officials say the issue is serious, and they are asking the

state whether they can regulate pot-growing and pronounce some crops

organic.

 

They say that with no system to regulate cultivation, consumers are at

risk.

 

" We regulate wine grape growers and pear growers and everybody else,

so why shouldn't we also regulate pot growers? " said Tony Linegar,

assistant agricultural commissioner for Mendocino County. " It's really

an agricultural crop. In our estimate, it should be subject to a lot

of the same laws and regulations as commercial agriculture. "

 

California, one of 11 states with medical marijuana laws, allows

people to grow, smoke or obtain pot with a doctor's recommendation.

Around the country, medical marijuana has slowly moved toward the

mainstream, with local law enforcement agencies issuing " user cards, "

and insurance companies honoring claims for stolen plants.

 

If the county got the go-ahead to regulate organic medical marijuana,

it would be " absolutely a first, " said Allen St. Pierre of the

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Regulating

cultivation would be " a huge leap in the public discourse and

policy-making, in that it recognizes that medical cannabis is legal

but it needs to have some sort of local controls placed on it. "

 

Acting on a request for two marijuana growers who want their crops to

be certified organic, and concerned by reports of someone getting sick

in another county from pesticide-treated marijuana, Mendocino County

Agricultural Commissioner Dave Bengston wrote to the state Department

of Food and Agriculture last month.

 

Bengston asked whether the county can certify pot as organic and

whether employees should be inspecting marijuana nurseries to check

for pests and other problems as they do with other crops.

 

Department spokesman Jay Van Rein said Monday the secretary is

studying the request.

 

Marijuana plants can be threatened by mites, mildew and cornmeal

worms. But with no products officially developed for marijuana

cultivation, some growers have been using chemicals intended for

ornamental plants, which could make users sick, Linegar said.

 

Linegar said he could not estimate how much marijuana is grown in

Mendocino County, about 100 miles north of San Francisco, but it is

generally considered prime pot territory. And clearly not all of it is

being grown for medicinal purposes.

 

The first time someone brought in a pot plant for a health check, was

" awkward, " Linegar said.

 

Last year, Mendocino County voters passed a first-in-the-nation

measure banning the raising of genetically engineered plants and

animals. And Mendocino set a pot precedent in 2000 with a ballot issue

allowing residents to grow a small amount of marijuana. The move was

only symbolic, since state and federal prohibitions rule.

 

" When things like this crop up it's almost our county that's on the

cutting left edge if you will, " Linegar said. " When I'm discussing

these issues with my counterparts in other counties, they really can't

relate to the problems that we're facing in Mendocino. They laugh

sometimes. But to us it's really a serious issue. "