Washington legal pot farms get back to work after pesticide concerns halted operations

By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) — Some legal cannabis growers in Washington state who were ordered to halt operations in April over concerns about pesticide contamination are getting back to business. State regulators recently lifted the restrictions against five licensees whose products were determined to have unapproved levels of a chemical related to DDT, a pesticide banned in the U.S. in 1972. The growers didn’t use DDT themselves, but their crops sit on old fruit orchards where it was used decades ago. Pesticides in cannabis are a concern in legal pot states nationwide, especially because the plant is typically smoked or concentrated, a process that can intensify contamination in the final product.