Letters to the Editor: Consumers should be careful when exploring cannabis-based treatments

To the editor: Thank you for publishing this detailed analysis of the state of legal cannabis in California — truly a cautionary tale for consumers (“California’s losing quest for clean weed,” Nov. 8).

As a longtime cancer patient, I at times considered the use of cannabis to manage nausea and other side effects of my treatments. I declined, as there were excellent FDA-approved (and well-tested) medicines to manage these side effects.

Nine years ago, there was research from clinical trials in Israel showing success with quad CBD oil against cancer versus traditional chemotherapy. I tried it for a short time when I was on a break from Western medicine. My oncologist cautioned me that due to a shortage of state monitoring, even legal cannabis products can be highly contaminated with pesticides, fungus, bacteria and heavy metals, among other things.

The product I tried apparently came from a highly regulated production facility, but now I question whether that was the case. And I also discovered legal quad oil was very expensive, close to $1,000 per month. The experiment for me failed and I moved on. Buyer beware.

Laurie S. Adami, Los Angeles

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To the editor: I was truly hoping that the legalization of marijuana would lead to serious oversight and protection of wildlands in California being poisoned by illegal growing operations.

Clearly, that didn’t happen. Worse, it’s seemingly impossible for the government to truly gain the upper hand in even the simplest of cases.

Thanks to the Los Angeles Times for its reporting and to staff writer Paige St. John for taking the time to expose another crisis.

Dean Katz, Ventura