Medical cannabis products were pulled from shelves and the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy issued a medical cannabis Patient Advisory this week after testing found unsafe levels of pesticides in items sold at MarijuanaVille locations across the state.
The advisory followed a complaint from a patient who reported an adverse health reaction after using a cannabis concentrate purchased at the company’s Waterville store. Testing revealed unsafe levels of the pesticide bifenthrin, according to the state.
After the complaint, six additional batches of MarijuanaVille concentrates were tested. Five of the six showed varying unsafe levels of multiple pesticides, including bifenthrin, chlorfenapyr, cypermethrin and pyridaben.
The affected strains include Denty Honey, Orange Kush Breath, Pineapple Mimosa, Raw Honey and Sexy Sally.
MarijuanaVille operates 12 medical cannabis retail stores in Alfred, Augusta, Bangor, Gardiner, Lewiston, Newport, Orland, Readfield, Waterville, Wilton, Winslow and Unity.
Unlike Maine’s recreational cannabis program, the state does not have authority to issue mandatory recalls in the medical cannabis program. The advisory is intended to notify patients rather than require product removal, although in this case MarijuanaVille pulled its affected products.
The medical program is also not subject to consistent contaminant testing or detailed inventory tracking, limiting the state’s ability to determine the scope of contamination or identify its source, officials said.
MarijuanaVille owner Frank Berenyi said products from his stores were collected for testing about a week before the advisory was issued.
“We’re not running our own lab. We haven’t for over a year,” Berenyi said in a Facebook post. “All the product we sell is from outsourced companies.”
He said the affected concentrates were not manufactured by MarijuanaVille.
“This is not product that we made,” Berenyi said. “As soon as we found this out, we pulled all that product off the shelves.”
Berenyi said the company also expanded testing beyond its own inventory.
“We realized it must be in other stores, so we wanted to get ahead of this,” he said. “I took it upon myself to start testing other stores about five days ago. We tested most stores in the Waterville area and some in other areas.”
He said results from the first two outside stores tested showed pesticide contamination and were forwarded to OCP.
“We already tested six stores,” Berenyi said. “We got results back from two of them, and both were positive.”
Berenyi said MarijuanaVille is now moving to have all of its products tested and is continuing to work with licensed laboratories.
“There should be no pesticides,” he said. “They should all be pulled.”
In a video posted Thursday, Berenyi said he has been working cooperatively with state inspectors.
“The inspectors have been great — they’re doing their job,” he said. “We’re actually trying to assist them.”
The Office of Cannabis Policy said it continues to investigate and will issue more notices if additional products test positive.
Patients experiencing symptoms such as respiratory irritation, neurological effects or flu-like symptoms are advised to contact a healthcare provider or call 911 in a medical emergency.
