Joints and baggies sold at California's medical marijuana dispensaries will soon carry a new warning label. Next to tags like "Purple Haze" and "White Widow" will be the advisory:
Contents may cause cancer when smoked.
On Friday, California added marijuana smoke to its official list of known carcinogens, joining the ranks of arsenic, asbestos and DDT. Pot brownies, lollipops and other non-inhalables are not affected by the new ruling.
Scientists found the pungent smoke shares many of the same harmful properties as tobacco smoke, warranting its inclusion on the Proposition 65 warning list. The law requires the state to publish a list of chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity, and businesses and government agencies must post warnings when they use such chemicals or sell products containing them.
Because the ruling highlighted the harmful effects of smoking pot, St. Pierre believes it may accelerate what he calls the "pharmaceuticalization" of the drug: marijuana pills, arm patches, under-tongue sprays and suppositories. His organization has even paid for studies showing the benefits of the vaporizer, a device that heats marijuana to a very high temperature to release THC, the active substance in marijuana, in a vapor that is cleaner and more pure than smoke.
