Cannabis. You can smoke it, vape it, eat it, drink it, diffuse it, swallow it in a pill or rub it on your skin. But do you really know what it is and what it does to your body?

According to the Food and Drug Administration website, “the FDA has not approved marijuana as a safe and effective drug for any indication.”

This prevents research from being funded and production from being regulated.

California is one of 33 states to have legalized cannabis use either medicinally, recreationally or both. However, it is still illegal under federal law.

Legalizing marijuana raises an important question: whether or not cannabis is safe to consume.

According to their mission, the FDA “is responsible for… helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medical products and foods to maintain and improve their health.”

There are a lot of things we consume daily that are cultivated in fields and in order to eat them, they must be FDA regulated. Cannabis is a different story: we don’t know where it comes from or how it is grown.

It is difficult for research on cannabis to be funded, which would provide a more in depth understanding of cannabis and appropriate regulations.

Part of the problem is that cannabis is classified as a Schedule 1 drug. This means that, according to the FDA, it has a high potential for abuse and has no accepted medicinal value.

Eric Vinje, an advocate for organic gardening, said the problem with legal marijuana is pesticides.

“Cannabis samples from shops and dispensaries… reveal products contaminated with insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides and other compounds used to eliminate or prevent infestations,” Vinje said.

Cannabis users should know that they are putting pesticides in their body with marijuana.

“Pesticides are incredibly harmful to human health,” according to Toxics Action Center. “Pesticides have been proven to cause reproductive and developmental effects, cancer, kidney and liver damage, endocrine disruption.”

Cannabis has grown important to people, and everyone should know what they’re putting into their bodies.