Missouri NORML announced that the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ Division of Cannabis Regulation has amended its rules regarding the testing of cannabis concentrates and other marijuana products sold in Missouri. Up to 25x Vitamin E Acetate.
“There seems to be no rational explanation for why Missouri would dramatically increase the content of a highly toxic substance that should never be present in legal marijuana products,” said Dan Vietz, Missouri NORML coordinator and chairman of the NORML national board of directors.
In 2019, thousands of Americans ended up in the hospital and dozens in the morgue after ingesting vitamin E acetate, which was added to illegal cannabis products.
Vitamin E Acetate is not a naturally occurring substance in organic marijuana.Vitamin E acetate is added to organic cannabis products, particularly vaporizer cartridges, to increase the substance’s viscosity, which is thought to make it more appealing to consumers.
A few months ago, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Division of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) voted to revise the amount of Vitamin E acetate allowed in legal cannabis products from 0.2 parts per million (ppm) to 5 ppm.
Missouri NORML has written to DHSS multiple times asking for the justification for significantly expanding the allowance for this highly hazardous substance. The only explanation DHSS has given is that “DCR believes that the justification for granting this exception is to provide accurate standardization of method reference materials for test practitioners, reduce the risk of false rejects, and To ensure Vitamin E Acetate is not added to marijuana products.chic)
Obviously this doesn’t make sense. Increasing the allowance for Vitamin E acetate by 25-fold does not “guarantee that Vitamin E acetate has not been added to marijuana products.”
For 50 years, NORML has represented the interests of cannabis consumers across the nation and in Missouri. Missouri NORML participated in the drafting of Article 14, Section 1 of the Missouri Constitution, which legalized medical cannabis use in 2018, and Article 14, Section 2, which legalized adult-use cannabis use in 2022.
