Farmer Tom Partners with the Federal Government on Cannabis Safety
Farmer Tom’s collaboration with the CDC and NIOSH allowed them to harness his Standard Operating Procedures from his own farm to establish essential cannabis safety standards nationwide.
KOMO News: “Feds spend week on Wash. [cannabis] farm: ‘This is novel for us’
“This the first time we have visited a grower” – NIOSH spokeswoman Christy Spring
How the CDC ended up on a cannabis farm in 2015
It started with a phone call. After Tom’s live extraction demos for KOMO News, the union asked if he would work with federal scientists on a health hazard evaluation (HHE). On the first call, he asked 10 CDC agents where their information came from.
A tour was off the table. Instead, in Tom’s words, the DOJ and the lawyers made his farm “a secure location where federal agents can learn, touch, and study cannabis.”
August 2015: two days with the whole industry in one place
Six CDC agents spent two days on the farm. Tom brought in the top labs, extractors and equipment makers so the scientists saw the whole picture of a working cannabis farm.
October 2015: three days watching a harvest
The agents came back for the HHE itself. Day one was harvesting. Day two was big leafing and bucking the plants down. Day three was trimming, with the trimmers hooked up to a cyber glove.
What the study changed for trimmers
Tom says the data let the CDC warn trimmers that “you could get carpal tunnel from trimming hours and hours and hours a day.” The Lund Report’s June 2017 coverage lists the same concern from NIOSH investigator James Couch, along with job rotation, keeping scissors clean and hook-line height. Read the full HHE report (PDF).
They’re civil servants. They’re doing the work. They’re just regular people.
Farmer Tom on the scientists he still talks to, Unscripted Cannabis
Setting the Gold Standard in Cannabis Safety Compliance
Download the HHS/CDC/NIOSH HHE Report
Our SOPs form the backbone of government-endorsed cannabis safety protocols, streamlining compliance and fostering industry-wide consistency.
Changing the Stigma
Farmer Tom was successful in getting the U.S. Federal Government to use the word ‘Cannabis’ instead of ‘Marijuana’
Building a Safer Cannabis Industry
By integrating his practices with federal guidelines, Tom can help you elevate safety standards to protect consumers and support sustainable, responsible, and organic cultivation.
If you are interested in workplace health and safety consultations, education, and site evaluations, please get in touch with us for
more information.
The same SOPs back his expert witness testimony and the safety consulting he does on farms. For the full story of the 2015 visits, read what NIOSH learned on a working cannabis farm.
