Time and time again we hear about licensed Producers, Processors & Retailers struggling to find a bank or financial institution that will serve them like any other commercial client, or for that matter, for any individual that is making a living under the state laws in which they and their business reside.

But the Federal Government continues to stand in the way as evidenced by the cowardly, “I don’t have the balls to rule on the merits of law” decision handed down when Denver’s Fourth Corner Credit Union’s recent suit against the feds for denying them access to a master account was dismissed.

Uncle Sam continues to treat Cannabis Industry businesses unfairly by having the Internal Revenue Service enforce 280E, which denies cannabis businesses from taking the same business expense deductions that any other licensed U.S. business benefits from.

And now, Uncle Sam’s position (and that of Hillary Clinton and other 2016 Presidential candidates) to allow states to experiment has gone too far.

The federal government has the bureaucracy and regulatory systems in place in the form of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and so on and so on, to assure that the products that the industry is serving medical and adult-use patients are safe, according to standards that they have set for other products consumed by the American public.

On January 27, the Denver Department of Environmental Health posted an article, Organa Labs Voluntarily Recalls Marijuana Products Due to Pesticide Residues that said;

A Denver marijuana-infused manufacturing business, Allied Concessions doing business as Organa Labs, is voluntarily recalling O.Pen Vape marijuana products due to the potential presence of unsafe pesticide residues. The recall affects an undetermined amount of individual units of marijuana concentrates that are used for vaporizing.

Samples of marijuana infused products contained residual levels of Imidacloprid, Myclobutanil, Etoxazole, and/or Avermectin, pesticides the Colorado Department of Agriculture has determined cannot be used legally on marijuana in Colorado.”

The article went on to list over 50 strains with batch numbers and cultivator IDs who were providing the raw materials to O.penVAPE, brands like Rocky Mountain Farmacy, Western Remedies, 5110 Race that do business under the Strainwise brand.

It also made a point of stressing that there were no reports of illness and that the health impact of unapproved pesticides (Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper announced a zero tolerance policy for pesticide which is scientifically impossible in this world) used for cannabis producers back in November 2015, but also made the unscientific observation that there were potential short and long-term health impacts to those consuming these products.

CBE received a copy of an e-mailed letter that Organa Labs sent to both its consumer customers and retail distributors last week that begins by stating,

The key questions center on what pesticides should be used for cannabis, and what tolerance levels can be allowed to ensure safety. Presently, the State has not addressed tolerance levels. They are in the process of making that determination, which to be effective must be informed by science and factor what is allowed for other agricultural crops.”

It goes on to accuse the Denver Department of Environmental Health of acting, and I quote, “on an extremist interpretation of the currently ambiguous state policy, and relying on screening policies that lack accurate scientific standards ” and sites the above mentioned story, as well as stressing the limited number of Organa Labs products which contain cannabis oil derived from contaminated plant material.

It also points out this: That there have been no reports of illness to date or incidents reported regarding the cited lots or with any of the 3 million products that they have sold to date without any health complaints.

Both parties agree that there is no known health impact from consuming marijuana products with unapproved pesticides. So, I am confused: Isn’t this why we have a U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Environmental Protection Agency, and a Food and Drug Administration at the federal level, to set standards to ensure health and safety standards for our citizens that are the best in the world?

How long is the federal government and the current roster of Presidential candidates going to wait for this state by state laboratory approach for legalizing the use of marijuana to last? It probably will go on until our federal government and candidates realize that the vast majority of Americans think that cannabis prohibition should end.

I can’t think of a more important reason than for the federal government to share their resources for setting reasonable standards for product safety since we, its citizens, already spend billions of tax dollars for an existing solution that is already in place.

So I ask President Obama, members of Congress, and the American judiciary, to finally stop screwing around and do what you are paid to do: satisfy “We the People”. By doing so, your lack of action supports the desires of the vocal minority at local, state and federal government agencies that continue to add to the cost of the failed “War on Drugs” that continues to punish marijuana and its cousin hemp.