Pot Products Recalled, Pot Shop Fires Employee For Unapproved Pesticides

DENVER (CBS4) - Jeremy Kilbourne dropped off a box of jars filled with marijuana. The marijuana could sell for thousands of dollars, but not now.

The inventory from Kilbourne's marijuana shop on Evans Avenue, Sacred Seed, is being tested to make sure it does not have unapproved pesticides in it. A company called Mahatma tested another batch last Monday and discovered it had unapproved pesticides.

Mahatma received its pot for the purpose of turning into hash oil and then returning it to Sacred Seed for future sales. Another company, Den-Rec, or Denver's Recreational in LoDo, was also discovered to have had unapproved pesticides. The two stores are cooperating with a voluntary recall.

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The pesticides discovered on the pot are not on an approved list from the state. Danica Lee from the Denver Department of Environmental Health said it's not known if the chemicals found in the marijuana are dangerous, but said, "We really don't have any idea what the long-term impacts might be through repetitive use."

Meanwhile Kilbourne showed near empty shelves saying, "We pulled 90 percent of the product off the shelf."

Kilbourne's said an employee used unapproved pesticides.

"I would have never hired the guy had I known this was going to happen, but we had no reason to believe this is what he was capable of," he said.

James Monaco of Den-Rec offered no explanation. He told CBS4 he's working with the city and state to find out how the wrong pesticides infiltrated his products.

Kilbourne has fired fired the employee who used the unapproved pesticides.

Howard Nathan is a veteran newsman. Decades later, he still enjoys writing a clever sentence, asking the tough question and talking to people in Colorado. Follow him on Twitter @CBS4Howard and read his bio.