Weed Sprayed With Poison? Just Label It 'Sustainable': Inside New York’s Pesticide Recall and the Empire of Compliance Theater

The Smell of Gasoline and Bullshit

On July 19, the New York Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced a statewide recall of cannabis products found to contain unapproved pesticides — a phrase that would be hilarious if it wasn’t referring to actual poison. According to the OCM, “unsafe levels” of Myclobutanil, Permethrin, and Piperonyl Butoxide were detected in products from at least three licensed processors, including Brooklyn-based Chill Pax and Rochester’s Canopy Grove Labs.

The recall, involving over 14 brands and an estimated 25,000+ units, should have triggered immediate panic. Instead? Retailers kept shelves stocked. Brands played dumb. And state regulators hid behind a lab report thicker than the collective ethics of New York’s cannabis board.

Because in New York weed? Compliance isn’t a goal. It’s a marketing tool.

Let the Bodies Hit the Dabs

According to internal documents obtained by Boof du Jour, multiple brands flagged in the recall had already received “informal warnings” from OCM back in March — five fucking months ago — regarding pesticide red flags. But instead of pulling products or suspending licenses, the agency reportedly “encouraged voluntary correction.”

Translated from Albany bureaucrat to human? They asked the brands nicely to stop spraying their weed with bug-killing chemicals that turn toxic at high heat.

Unconfirmed reports suggest one Brooklyn-based executive laughed and said:

“Myclobutanil? That’s just salt for growers.”

Meanwhile, Chill Pax issued a formal statement claiming “we take compliance seriously,” which is corporate weed code for “we already moved the batch and can’t afford to eat the loss.”

The Lab Test That Always Passes

OCM’s lab-testing pipeline is a Byzantine mess of third-party vendors, quietly approved exceptions, and political appointees who still think Delta-8 is a Star Wars droid. According to one anonymous lab technician, “failures get flipped or retested until they pass — that’s not policy, that’s just how it’s always been.”

New York’s cannabis lab network is dominated by a handful of players, many of whom face no penalty for rubber-stamping product. One lab under investigation for high pesticide thresholds had also been offering “expedited results” for an extra fee — a convenient service when your flower tests like Raid-soaked oregano.

Brands learned early: test until it passes, label it clean, and let the customer deal with the cancer.

Retailers Knew. Nobody Cared.

Here’s where it gets worse. Multiple dispensary managers told Boof du Jour they were informed about the recall “well before the public alert” — but chose to keep products on shelves. Why? Because the OCM hadn’t officially ordered destruction yet. That’s right: your eighth of Chill Pax’s Lemon Diesel may have been laced with banned fungicides, but as long as the state didn’t say the word “recall” on paper, it stayed in the display case.

One store employee put it bluntly:

“You expect me to toss $8K worth of units because a PDF said ‘unapproved’? They approved it when they took our licensing fees.”

Sustainability Theatre, Powered by Spray Bottles

The irony? Several of the recalled brands had been featured in “sustainable cannabis” lists pushed by media outlets desperate for ad dollars. One award-winning flower company, whose SKUs tested hot for Myclobutanil, had literally just won an “Eco-Grower of the Year” badge from a greenwashing influencer with 12K followers and no clue what systemic toxicity is.

Pesticides don’t kill credibility in cannabis — they boost margins and win marketing awards.

Regulators Knew. Nobody Cared.

According to a whistleblower inside the OCM, internal emails as far back as January show multiple staffers raising concerns about “testing inconsistencies,” “possible lab favoritism,” and “the political optics of cracking down on equity licensees.”

The concern wasn’t whether consumers were being poisoned — it was how it would look to shut down a processor months after using them in a social equity press release.

Even now, the OCM is issuing vague guidance and refusing to name all implicated brands. “We’re investigating further,” they said in a public statement. Translation? “We hope this blows over by next week.”

Meanwhile, the Poison’s Still on the Shelf

If you bought pre-rolls, carts, or flower in New York recently, check your batch number. Or don’t. Because odds are nobody knows what the fuck they’re doing.

The state’s recall program is voluntary, opaque, and entirely dependent on businesses doing the right thing in a system that penalizes nothing. The OCM blames the labs. The labs blame unclear regulations. The brands blame suppliers. And the suppliers blame “legacy mindsets.”

At no point does anyone blame the weed that still reeks of citrus, gasoline, and complicit neglect.