Submission title

Tainted

Medium

Print

Year

2017

Type

Finalist

Team

Grant Robertson

Description

How much oversight does Canada’s soon-to-be legalized marijuana industry require? Even as Health Canada was assuring citizens that federally regulated marijuana would be safe, Globe reporter Grant Robertson revealed one company was cutting corners by using illegal toxic pesticides —and scores of medical marijuana consumers were falling ill. Once the government learned of the problem, it withheld the information from the public. So Robertson plumbed his industry sources to track down former employees of the company, including one who admitted that staff hid the toxic chemical inside office ceiling tiles. One patient’s medical marijuana, independently tested by the Globe, contained no less than five banned pesticides. Robertson’s dogged investigative reporting resulted in stories which ultimately caused Health Canada to reverse course and institute new federal legislation for mandatory testing and new penalties of up to $1 million for violators. “Tainted”’s revelations also became the basis for a patients’ class-action lawsuit. The Globe and Mail was also awarded a Citation of Merit.