Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jun 2014
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2014 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Maureen Dowd, New York Times
Page: 17A

MY BAD TRIP ON EDIBLE MARIJUANA

Colorado coming to grips with darker side of legalizing pot for the 
public, says Maureen Dowd

The caramel-chocolate-flavored candy bar looked so innocent, like the 
Sky Bars I used to love as a child. Sitting in my hotel room in 
Denver, I nibbled off the end and then, when nothing happened, 
nibbled some more. I figured if I was reporting on the social 
revolution rocking Colorado in January, the giddy culmination of pot 
Prohibition, I should try a taste of legal, edible pot from a local shop.

What could go wrong with a bite or two? Everything, as it turned out.

Not at first. For an hour, I felt nothing. But then I felt a scary 
shudder go through my body and brain. I barely made it from the desk 
to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the 
next eight hours. I was thirsty but couldn't move to get water. Or 
even turn off the lights. I strained to remember where I was or even 
what I was wearing. As my paranoia deepened, I became convinced that 
I had died and no one was telling me.

It took all night before it began to wear off, distressingly slowly. 
The next day, a medical consultant at an edibles plant where I was 
conducting an interview mentioned that candy bars like that are 
supposed to be cut into 16 pieces for novices; but that 
recommendation hadn't been on the label.

I reckoned that the fact that I was not a regular marijuana smoker 
made me more vulnerable and that I should have known better. But it 
turns out, five months in, some kinks need to be ironed out.

The state is now coming to grips with the darker side of unleashing a 
drug as potent as marijuana on a horde of tourists of all ages and 
tolerance levels seeking a mellow buzz.

As Jack Healy reported in The New York Times on Sunday, Colorado 
hospital officials "are treating growing numbers of children and 
adults sickened by potent doses of edible marijuana," and neighboring 
states are seeing more stoned drivers.

"We realized there was a problem because we're watching everything 
with the urgency of the first people to regulate in this area," said 
Andrew Freedman, the state's director of marijuana coordination. 
"There are way too many stories of people not understanding how much 
they're eating. With liquor, people understand what they're getting 
themselves into. But that doesn't exist right now for edibles for new 
users in the market.

"The whole industry was set up for people who smoked frequently. It 
needs to learn how to educate new users in the market. We have to 
create a culture of responsibility around edibles, so people know 
what to expect to feel."

Gov. John Hickenlooper and the Legislature recently created a task 
force to come up with packaging that clearly differentiates pot 
cookies and candy and gummy bears from normal sweets - with an eye 
toward protecting children - and directed the Department of Revenue 
to restrict the amount of edibles that can be sold at one time to one 
person. The governor also signed legislation mandating that there be 
a stamp on edibles, possibly a marijuana leaf.

The state plans to start testing to make sure the weed is spread 
evenly throughout the product. The task force is discussing having 
budtenders give better warnings to customers and moving toward 
demarcating a single-serving size of 10 milligrams. (Industry 
representatives objected to the expense of wrapping bites of candy 
individually.)

Bob Eschino, the owner of Incredibles, which makes candy and serves 
up chocolate and strawberry fountains, argues that, since pot goodies 
leave the dispensary in childproof packages, it is the parents' 
responsibility to make sure their kids don't get hold of it.

"Somebody suggested we just make everything look like a gray square 
so it doesn't look appealing," he said. "Why should the whole 
industry suffer just because less than 5 percent of people are having 
problems with the correct dosing?"

Does he sound a little paranoid?
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom