![](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/sfc-datebook-wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/12\/featured_event17261--600x400.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Connecticut is proposing an official change to the total amount of mold and yeast allowed in cannabis products following patient outcry over a change that allowed one of Connecticut\u2019s labs to increase its total limit last year.<\/p>\n
The move would set the total limit at 100,000 colony forming units per gram, and wouldn\u2019t allow any detectable levels of certain harmful breeds of mold in the Aspergillus family. It would mean an increase for limits at one Connecticut lab and a decrease for the other.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s Department of Consumer Protection opened public comment on the change Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The public comment period ends 5 p.m. Feb. 1.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe purpose of this regulation is to update microbial testing standards for medical marijuana to better protect public health and safety,\u201d a Department of Consumer Protection press release said. \u201cThis proposed regulatory change will create clarity and consistency for medical marijuana laboratories and medical marijuana patients.\u201d<\/p>\n The state has about 54,000 medical marijuana patients and is in the process of launching its adult-use program.<\/p>\n The proposed standards were developed with input from several microbiologists, department spokeswoman Kaitlyn Krasselt said.<\/p>\n \u201cThese new standards, which were drafted in consultation with several microbiologists, will prohibit specific types of yeast and mold in cannabis flower that may cause injury when inhaled and allow 10^5 cfu\/g of colony forming units that have no demonstrated injurious impact on human health,\u201d Krasselt said.<\/p>\n The proposed change comes after patients complained at the most recent meeting of the state\u2019s Social Equity Counci<\/a>l and online about the state\u2019s approval of a request<\/a> from AltaSci labs last year to raise the limits at the lab to 1 million colony forming units per gram. Initially, the lab\u2019s limit had been 10,000 units per gram.<\/p>\n The lab also requested the addition of the testing for the Aspergillus family of molds.<\/p>\n The request was approved via private emails and not announced publicly. Notification wasn\u2019t sent to patients.<\/p>\n Patients have expressed concern over safety of the products as well as a lack of transparency in the decision-making process. State regulators have said that the looser restrictions paired with the addition of testing for the Aspergillus mold genus makes the product safer.<\/p>\n Connecticut has two labs that test the cannabis supply. The other lab, Northeast Laboratories, left its limit at 10,000 units per gram after the AltaSci change last year.<\/p>\n After the public comment period ends, the state will determine what changes are necessary based on the feedback. Then, the Attorney General\u2019s office will have 30 days to review the regulations for \u201clegal sufficiency,\u201d Krasselt said.<\/p>\n If approved, it goes to the Legislative Regulations Review Committee, which has 45 days to put it on their agenda, Krasselt said.<\/p>\n AltaSci laboratory director Jose Zavaleta said the lab supports the change.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do support the changes because it will create clarity and consistency for laboratories and, most importantly, for medical marijuana patients,\u201d Zavaleta said in an emailed statement Thursday.<\/p>\n Lou Rinaldi, a medical marijuana patient, said the proposal highlights the need for an ombudsman-led Patient Advocacy Council for the medical program. The issue didn\u2019t come to light until there were public records requests under the Freedom of Information Act as well as a complaint.<\/p>\n And it took \u201cpublic shaming to force the agency into corrective action,\u201d Rinaldi said.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough DCP finally seeking public comment is a positive step, the fox still cannot be trusted to regulate the hen house,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Connecticut is proposing an official change to the total amount of mold and yeast allowed in cannabis products following patient outcry over a change that allowed one of Connecticut\u2019s labs to increase its total limit last year. The move would set the total limit at 100,000 colony forming units per gram, and wouldn\u2019t allow any detectable levels of certain harmful breeds of mold in the Aspergillus family. It would mean an increase for limits at one Connecticut lab and a decrease for the other. The state\u2019s Department of Consumer Protection opened public comment on the change Wednesday. The public comment… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut-cbd-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}