Patients who consumed tainted medical
marijuana from government-regulated suppliers are questioning how safe
the industry is in the wake of several high-profile recalls due to
banned pesticides, which have exposed serious gaps in Health Canada’s
oversight.
After a string of recent
recalls by Mettrum Ltd., OrganiGram Inc. and Aurora Cannabis Inc.
because of the presence of myclobutanil – a banned pesticide that
produces hydrogen cyanide when heated – a number of patients told The
Globe and Mail they don’t see how Health Canada can assure them the
product can be trusted. Revelations that the government isn’t testing
regularly to prove all companies aren’t using harmful chemicals have
left consumers concerned for their health.
“I think this has probably given everybody
a wakeup call,” said Patty Wade, a Mettrum client in Trenton, Ont., who
was prescribed medical cannabis for post-traumatic stress disorder.
“When you are trusting a company to be healthy, you would have thought
that the government would have ensured this.”
Last
week, Health Canada acknowledged to The Globe it had not been testing
product from the 38 federally regulated medical-marijuana growers to
ensure they weren’t using banned chemicals.
Instead,
the department said the companies knew pesticides such as myclobutanil
were banned and the companies had been left to police themselves.
However,
Thomas McConville, a former Mettrum employee, told The Globe he
witnessed company employees spraying myclobutanil on plants to combat a
mildew problem in 2014, even though they knew the chemical – a known
carcinogen – was banned. To evade detection when Health Canada
inspectors visited the facility, a Mettrum employee hid the pesticide
behind the ceiling tiles in the company’s offices, knowing the
department wasn’t testing the plants, Mr. McConville said.
Health
Canada has since attached new conditions to the licences of Mettrum and
OrganiGram, requiring their product to be tested for banned pesticides.
And last week, the department announced random tests for the rest of
the industry, which it hopes will ensure other companies aren’t breaking
the rules.
Without regular testing,
though, there is no way to be certain which companies are producing
clean product, patients say. Ms. Wade, a former nurse, said there is
little certainty which companies are safe to buy her medicine from.
“What
I’m hoping is that this has put such a spotlight on it, that the
government is going to step up its processes and look into all of the
licensed producers,” Ms. Wade said. “I don’t understand why they haven’t
been testing … So what are going to be the safeguards for us, the
consumers?”
The licensed producers are
already expected to test for mould and bacteria in their products before
selling them. Health Canada said last week that, for now, it’s not
planning mandatory testing for banned pesticides. “We have a couple of
cases right now. I wouldn’t want to extrapolate that that’s an issue
that would be happening at all our LPs [licensed producers.],” a senior
government official told The Globe.
Still,
it’s impossible for Health Canada to know how big the problem is. The
Globe has talked to more than 20 patients affected by the recalls, and
several of them say their confidence in the safety of the industry has
been shaken.
“Presumably it’s out of the product now –
although who can even say that?” said Dawn Rae Downton, a patient in
Halifax who was prescribed medical marijuana last March for severe back
pain that prevented her from sleeping, and purchased her product from
OrganiGram. “I see it as a consumer-protection issue, and I see it as an
astonishing lack of oversight on the part of Health Canada.”
In
a submission to Health Canada, known as an Adverse Reaction Report, Ms.
Downton told the department she suffered “severe, intractable nausea,
vomiting and anorexia,” which “continued relentlessly daily for nine
months, resolving to a tolerable degree about five weeks after I stopped
using the cannabis.”
OrganiGram
announced it was recalling her products in December, because of the
presence of myclobutanil. Ms. Downton’s symptoms are similar to several
of the known effects of low-level hydrogen-cyanide poisoning on the
body.
Health Canada has referred to the
amounts of banned pesticide it detected as “trace amounts” that are
“low risk.” However, Warren Porter, a top U.S. toxicologist, questioned
that response last week, saying, “There is no data I am aware of that
would give those assurances. “Ultra-low doses can have all kinds of
biological effects, especially over longer periods of exposure,” said
Dr. Porter, a specialist in molecular and environmental toxicology at
the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ms. Downton is now worried about her health. “I inhaled hydrogen cyanide every day for eight months,” she said.
Another
patient told The Globe he chose to use medical marijuana for pain
relief because he didn’t want to use opioids. He selected a
government-regulated supplier, Mettrum, because he wanted to ensure the
product was safe and clean.
“I made a
choice to go the medical-marijuana route, despite paperwork, numerous
medical appointments and cost, because I wanted to feel safe about what I
was putting in my body,” said the man, who requested anonymity because
he didn’t want to disclose publicly he was using medical marijuana. “I
felt this was safer.”
The man said he is reluctant to purchase new product. “I don’t trust the replacement product is safe,” he said.
Only
Mettrum and OrganiGram are now required to submit to regular testing
for myclobutanil. The third recent recall, at Aurora Cannabis, came
after that company purchased a bulk supply from OrganiGram, which it
resold to its customers.
Since the
recalls were announced in December, Mettrum was sold to Canopy Growth
Corp. for $430-million. Mettrum chief executive Michael Haines has not
responded to requests for comment. Mr. Haines is no longer with the
company.
Canopy CEO Bruce Linton said
the company is working to correct the Mettrum problems. Mr. Linton said
he is in favour of routine testing to prove to customers the product is
free of pesticides, which his company is adopting.
“The
supply chain has to be completely trustworthy, and showing that you get
that means that you will routinely and actively test and confirm this
is on track, this is following the rules, there isn’t what you wouldn’t
want in it,” Mr. Linton said.
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