Regina G. Barber

Today on the show, how patchy weed regulations have failed to keep up with consumption, and how it could be harming people's health.

I'm Regina Barber, and you're listening to Shortwave, a science podcast from NPR.

We're talking to independent health and science journalist Teresa Carr about patchy weed regulations across the U.S.

We also have our own pharmaceuticals correspondent who's reported on this topic as well, Sydney Lupkin.

Hey, Sydney.

Hey.

So, Sydney, like marijuana is now legal in some form in many states.

What's the difference on how weed is regulated versus like how pharmaceuticals are regulated in the U.S.

?

Yeah.

I mean, this brings us back to Teresa, the story in Oklahoma with Summer and Charles.

You know, they got their weed tested and you said that they found mold, they found other things.

Was it that weed that was causing their health issues?

And this wasn't just a one-time thing in Oklahoma.

You wrote in your article about a testing lab manager, Jeffrey Havard, who tested 20 off-the-shelf marijuana joints there.

So what did he find when he did all that testing?

So, Teresa, does that mean that like the state's regulatory system for weed in that case failed?

Okay.

So you reported on how people who produce the weed have to arrange their own testing.

Like, how has that affected the industry?