Pubdate: Thu, 01 May 2014 Source: Delaware County Daily Times (PA) Copyright: 2014 The Daily Times Contact: http://www.delcotimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1284 Page: 22 COLORADO EYES EDIBLES RULES AS MORE PEOPLE INGEST POT DENVER (AP) - Colorado's marijuana experiment is threatened by the popularity of eating it instead of smoking it, leading the pot industry to join health officials and state regulators to try to curb the problem of consumers ingesting too much weed. A task force that's meeting Wednesday planned to start work on refining Colorado's rules on edibles, the industry term for marijuana that has been concentrated and infused into food or drink. "Basically, we are trying to figure out how to come up with a reasonable THC concentration or amount in edibles in proportion to product safety size," said Dr. George Sam Wang of Children's Hospital Colorado, a pediatric emergency physician who has treated children and toddlers who fell ill after eating marijuana. Marijuana-infused foods are booming state's new recreational market. Some choose edible pot because of health concerns about smoking the drug. Others are visitors who can't find a hotel that allows toking and are stymied by a law barring public outdoor pot smoking. Whether through inexperience or confusion, many are eating too much pot too quickly, with potentially deadly consequences. A college student from Wyoming jumped to his death from a Denver hotel balcony last month after consuming six times the recommended dosage of a marijuana-infused cookie. And earlier this month, a Denver man accused of shooting his wife reportedly ate pot-laced candy before the attack, though police say he may have had other drugs in his system. The deaths have underscored a common complaint from new marijuana customers - they say they don't know how much pot to eat and then have unpleasant experiences when they ingest too much. Colorado already limits THC - marijuana's intoxicating chemical - in edible pot products to 10mg per serving, with a maximum of 10 servings per package. Exact comparisons are tricky because marijuana varies widely in potency and quality, but 10mg of THC is considered roughly equivalent to the amount in a medium-sized joint. Edibles must be sold in opaque, childproof containers that explicitly warn the product contains marijuana and hasn't been tested for safety or potency. Colorado also bans retailers from adding concentrated pot to a premade food item, such as injecting cannabis oil into a branded candy bar, though the move is common among home cooks. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt