Pot growers want to be certified as organic

BERKELEY, Calif. — Medical-marijuana growers in Mendocino County — a Northern California outpost that is home to vegans, vintners, libertarians and aging hippies — want to have their pot certified as organic.

With no system to regulate cultivation, county officials say, consumers are at risk.

"We regulate wine-grape growers and pear growers and everybody else, so why shouldn't we also regulate pot growers?" said Tony Linegar, the county's assistant agricultural commissioner. "It's really an agricultural crop. In our estimate, it should be subject to a lot of the same laws and regulations as commercial agriculture."

California, one of 11 mostly Western states with medical-marijuana laws, allows people to grow, smoke or obtain pot with a doctor's recommendation. Medical marijuana slowly is moving toward the mainstream, with law-enforcement agencies issuing "user cards," and insurance firms honoring claims for stolen plants.

Acting on a request by two marijuana growers who want their crops to be certified organic, and concerned by reports of someone becoming sick in another county from pesticide-treated marijuana, Mendocino County Agricultural Commissioner Dave Bengston wrote to the state Department of Food and Agriculture last month.

Department spokesman Jay Van Rein said Monday the secretary is studying the request.

Marijuana plants can be threatened by mites, mildew and cornmeal worms. With no products developed specifically for marijuana cultivation, some growers have been using chemicals intended for ornamental plants, which could make users sick, Linegar said.

He said he could not estimate how much marijuana is grown in Mendocino County, about 100 miles north of San Francisco. Clearly not all of it is being grown for medicinal purposes.

"When things like this crop up, it's almost our county that's on the cutting left edge if you will," Linegar said.