{"id":409794,"date":"2026-05-03T12:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T12:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/409794\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T12:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T12:48:15","slug":"medical-cannabis-patient-advisory-northwoods-caregiver-flower-5-1-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/409794\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical Cannabis Patient Advisory \u2013 Northwoods Caregiver Flower &#8211; 5\/1\/2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        \tMedical Cannabis Patient Advisory<\/p>\n<p>OCP received a patient complaint in April about an adverse health reaction from cannabis flower purchased at Northwoods Caregiver, LLC in the town of Shirley Mills. OCP conducted an investigation that included testing the flower alleged to have caused the adverse reaction. Those test results showed unsafe levels of yeast and mold in the strain \u201cBlackberry Mint\u201d and unsafe levels of the pesticide Piperonyl Butoxide in the strain \u201cBanana Punch\u201d. Further testing of those strains as part of OCP\u2019s investigation showed more unsafe levels of the pesticide Piperonyl Butoxide.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Northwoods Caregiver flower in bags\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"dc4783be-7ff2-4472-82a5-b5f2387fffc9\" height=\"181\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Northwoods Caregiver Flower 2.JPEG\" width=\"374\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Northwoods Caregiver flower in bags\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"780f5bd8-fd80-4367-9e07-b1ff6cb30505\" height=\"183\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Northwoods Caregiver Flower 1.jpg\" width=\"255\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The photos above show medical cannabis flower of the strains \u201cBlackberry Mint\u201d and \u201cBanana Punch\u201d as sold and packaged by Northwoods Caregiver.<\/p>\n<p>Inhaling cannabis containing unsafe levels of mold can lead to sinus issues, allergies, headaches, dizziness, or fatigue.\u00a0Inhaling cannabis containing unsafe levels of pesticides can cause respiratory irritation, neurological effects, and\/or flu-like symptoms. Please see below for more information on the toxicity and health impacts of each contaminant detected at unsafe levels in the Northwoods Caregiver products listed above. Any patient who has ingested these products and is experiencing symptoms or adverse reactions should contact a healthcare provider immediately or dial 911 if there is a medical emergency.<\/p>\n<p>Additional information related to this advisory is available\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.maine.gov\/dafs\/ocp\/news-events\/news\/maine-office-cannabis-policy-medical-cannabis-patient-advisory-northwoods\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Concentration, Toxicity, and Health Impacts of Cannabis Contaminants<\/p>\n<p>Below please find a list of contaminants (analytes) that Northwoods Caregiver\u2019s flower samples would have failed testing for per the Adult Use Cannabis Program testing standards.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tStrain<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tAnalyte<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tConcentration<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tAdult Use Pass\/Fail Threshold<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tTimes (x) the Adult Use\u00a0Pass\/Fail Threshold<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tBanana Punch (Sample 1) <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPiperonyl Butoxide<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t4.81 ppm<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t2 ppm<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t2.4x<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tBanana Punch (Sample 2)<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPiperonyl Butoxide<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t5.85 ppm<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t2 ppm<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t2.9x<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tBlackberry Mint (Sample 1)<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tTotal Yeast and Mold<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t180,000 cfu<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t10,000 cfu<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t18x<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tBlackberry Mint (Sample 2)<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPiperonyl Butoxide<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t3.81 ppm<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t2 ppm<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t1.9x<\/p>\n<p>Below please find information about the toxicity and health impacts of each contaminant (analyte) listed above.\u00a0Any patient who has ingested these products and is experiencing symptoms or adverse reactions should contact a healthcare provider immediately or dial 911 if there is a medical emergency.<\/p>\n<p>Piperonyl Butoxide (synergist): Relatively low toxicity to humans (Level 4 &#8211; harmful). Inhalation may cause irritation of the respiratory tract.<\/p>\n<p>Yeast and Mold: Common effects include\u00a0respiratory issues (asthma, coughing, sneezing), skin rashes, headaches, and fatigue. Mold can cause or worsen asthma and chronic lung conditions, such as allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis. People with compromised immune systems, allergies, or pre-existing asthma are more susceptible to severe reactions.<\/p>\n<p>Biproducts of mold inhalation (Mycotoxins) may cause different types of poisoning and, consequently, diverse health problems (from acute to chronic problems) in humans. Long term exposure can cause immune suppression. Multiple mycotoxins are carcinogens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Medical Cannabis Patient Advisory OCP received a patient complaint in April about an adverse health reaction from cannabis&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-409794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}