The times they are a changing....

KPIX Reporter Mike Sugerman expensed a $600 pot purchase to the station for a story he was working on. 

$600 is not cheap but it's for a sweeps story...so it's ok.

Sugerman, who has a medicinal marijuana card, was concerned that the exploding industry is under-regulated, and wanted to test the potency of the medicines that can be purchased, especially the medicinal marijuana that is meant to be ingested, including candy.

“There’s no regulation because the Feds consider it illegal,” Sugerman explained. “The FDA can’t get involved.”

He purchased different kinds of items at random at 12 locations in San Francisco and Oakland.

Sugerman said in testing for the upcoming story, a laboratory found that, “…labels on packages had nothing to do with what was in them. One candy was 1 percent of what it claimed!” And other products contained other chemicals that were not supposed to be there.

Station management encouraged the consumer report, even if it raises eyebrows when the finance department reviews the newsroom expenses.

Sugerman said, “They [the bosses] actually were cool with it. It turned out to be a great story and I think one that will really resonate in the community. We’re flying blind here. And it’s medicine.”

The big question several of Sugerman’s colleagues asked was what happened to the $600 in marijuana after the testing. Sugerman confirms, “The laboratory kept everything.”

Sure Mike....whatever you say.

H/T KPIX