In January 2020, recreational marijuana became legal in the state of Illinois, and since then, almost $2 billion worth of weed has been sold. The state also passed some of the strictest testing standards for cannabis in the nation.
Yet consumers still can’t be certain that the heavily taxed legal weed they buy from state-licensed dispensaries is free from excessive levels of contaminants such as mold, yeast and bacteria, the Chicago Sun-Times found.
So what’s in the weed sold in stores around the state? The Sun-Times commissioned lab tests to find out — and the results were surprising.
Our seven-part series dives into the following topics:
- How the state tests marijuana and why some samples failed;
- Why contaminated weed can be hazardous, according to experts;
- What is on legal weed labels and how to read them;
- What happens — or doesn’t happen — when the state investigates complaints of weed contamination, and;
- How our reporters tested weed and investigated this series.
