Originally Posted by
Krypt
Part of the reason I quit smoking entirely was the likely (in my mind) contamination of the weed due to pesticides, preservatives, etc.
And you would be correct in thinking that, at least on the pesticide side of things. Preservatives in weed are nothing to worry about as there really isn't anything used to preserve it other than nitrogen injected vacuum sealed bags, which ain't happening on the black market and is nothing to worry about anyway.
Pesticides, fungicides and heavy metals on the other hand are definitely an issue, as well as pests, molds and fungus.
Black market growers don't give a fuck about their consumers. They only care about having a successful harvest and making a buck. Unfortunately this mentality transferred over to the legal side of things considering the vast majority of "experts" were people who were growing illegally for years. Policy makers aren't scientists and know nothing about what it takes to produce cannabis on a massive scale, so they were and still are for the most part, unaware of these issues. Nevada is actually the first state to address it, and they are doing a great job. They actually have the Nevada Dept of Agriculture overseeing the use of pesticides on cannabis and educating all of the cultivators, and have insanely stringent testing before the products reach the shelves.
Sadly, if you've been smoking black market weed for years you have without question been exposed to hard chemistry pesticides, as well as shit like powdery mildew, molds, and shitloads of mites (which don't effect humans, but still nasty to think about) as well as a whole other assortment of pests and fucked up shit.