Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jan 2015
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2015 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Gale Curcio

HOW COULD JUST A BITE OF CANDY PUT ME IN THE HOSPITAL?

Considering that chocolate is part of my daily diet, it was no 
surprise that I took a bite out of a random piece that I found 
sitting on my kitchen counter that day. It tasted terrible - kind of 
minty - so I spit out most of it.

It was a busy day: Not only was I preparing for a large Labor Day 
party at my home, but I also planned to spend a few hours helping my 
church get ready for a huge Labor Day yard sale. When I started 
feeling a little dizzy and lightheaded, I ignored it and kept on 
working. I had felt similar to this a few weeks earlier because of 
dehydration, so I figured it would pass. I continued setting up for the party.

The feeling persisted and increased a little in intensity. I thought 
back to my morning regimen and checked to make sure I hadn't taken 
the wrong pills, but everything seemed okay there.

As the dizziness and lightheadedness increased, I remembered the 
candy bar. I also recalled that I had thrown away a wrapper before I 
came across that piece of candy. I remembered seeing the words "Liquid Gold."

"Oh, my gosh, I've eaten a bar of furniture polish," I thought to 
myself. I tried to find the wrapper in the trash, but things were not 
making much sense at this point. I called Poison Control; the people 
there thought that I would be okay, given that I had swallowed barely 
any of whatever it was. They said they would check with me 
periodically for the next four hours.

Things were getting hazier and everything seemed to be in slow 
motion. I knew that I would be okay if it didn't get any worse, but I 
wanted somebody to know what was going on in case I became 
incapacitated. I called my husband's office, but he was in a meeting. 
I went to my neighbor's house and asked him to check on me in an hour.

As time slowed down more and more, the hour seemed interminable. I 
was still standing, but I was barely functioning. I couldn't find my 
phone. Things didn't make sense.

I was relieved when my neighbor came over. He took one look at me 
trying to stand up and said we should go to the hospital. I readily 
agreed. He wasn't sure exactly how to get there, but I assured him I 
knew the way. However, everything was a blur and very distorted, and 
I kept falling asleep. When I saw a row of cars, I thought it was a 
parade. I felt as though I was hallucinating.

We made it to the hospital, but the short ride seemed very long to 
me. My husband met us at the emergency room. I was having trouble 
staying awake, and I was losing control of my arms and legs. The 
staff had to put me a wheelchair to get me back to a room.

I could barely speak at that point, but I had been cognizant enough 
earlier to tell my neighbor about Poison Control and Liquid Gold. The 
hospital contacted Poison Control, but nobody could understand why I 
was having the symptoms that I was. Poison Control said that Liquid 
Gold furniture polish doesn't come in a bar. Also, I wasn't 
nauseated; instead, I was semiconscious and barely verbal. The nurse 
suggested that my husband go home and try to find the wrapper.

The doctor thought I was having a stroke and sent me for an MRI scan 
in a room where some of the ceiling tiles had been replaced with 
pictures of flowers. I thought I was in heaven. The whir of the MRI 
machine was very peaceful, and I just wanted to float away.

As they put me on the gurney to take me back to the emergency room, I 
started emerging slowly out of the fog.

About then, my husband arrived with the wrapper. This Liquid Gold was 
not furniture polish. It was a Cookies n' Cream candy bar - with 
marijuana in it. I wasn't having a stroke, I was tripping.

I was still very groggy when I spoke to my 26-year-old son just after 
finding out it was marijuana. At first he thought it was funny, but 
then he realized the seriousness and kept apologizing. He wasn't sure 
exactly how the candy bar had gotten into the house; a friend of a 
friend of a friend had brought it from California, where medical 
marijuana is legal.

While we laughed about it at first, the story has its frightening 
aspects. The first is that I had such a small piece of the candy bar 
yet had such severe symptoms. I was also thankful that none of our 
pets or a child found it.

This particular candy bar came from G Farma-Labs, which describes its 
products as aimed at the medical and recreational market, where legal.

Even with the wrapper, it would be easy to overlook the fact that 
this was no normal candy bar. Last year, Hershey sued Tincturebelle, 
a Colorado manufacturer, and Conscious Care of Seattle for trademark 
infringement, demanding that the companies stop selling marijuana 
products that resemble Hershey items. Although the packaging of the 
candy bar I ate displayed an image of a marijuana plant and warned 
that it contained cannabis, the chocolate image dominated. On the 
back it said, "Warning: This Product contains a high level of THC. 
Not a food. Keep away from children."

There was no description of the possible reactions that people can 
experience after digesting marijuana candy. John Nicolazzo, coowner 
of Marijuanadoctors.com, a Web site that helps patients find doctors 
who prescribe marijuana, said reactions can include shallow low 
breathing, dry mouth, anxiety, paranoia, dizziness, slow reaction 
time, red eyes and/or dilated pupils, depression, short-term memory 
loss, distorted sense of time and increased appetite.

These are important issues as more and more states legalize marijuana.

In November, District voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative 71, 
legalizing the limited possession and cultivation of marijuana by 
adults who are 21 or older. Congressional Republicans, however, are 
trying to prevent implementation of this measure, using the federal 
budget bill to ban use of tax money to administer the law. Some D.C. 
leaders are trying to outmaneuver Congress and put the law into effect.

Colorado, Washington state and, most recently, Alaska and Oregon have 
legalized recreational use. The District and 23 states have laws 
allowing medical use of marijuana. Medical use is tightly controlled 
in the District: While California patients can get their supplies at 
many different places with minimal paperwork, for example, D.C. 
patients can use only the licensed commissary where they have registered.

Metropolitan Wellness Center is one of the dispensaries licensed to 
provide cannabis to registered patients and caregivers in Washington. 
The center's dispensary near Eastern Market in Southeast sells 
marijuana in smokable and edible forms - flowers, prerolls, tinctures 
and concentrates - but not chocolate bars.

Nicolazzo said that the labels on the same candy bar vary greatly 
from state to state. A label on one candy bar in California says the 
bar contains six servings and describes each section as one serving 
size, adding that a dose is 35 milligrams.

Washington state requires a warning label: "CAUTION: When eaten the 
effects of this product can be delayed by as much as two hours."

William Stage, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Alexandria, 
said that while smoked marijuana goes to the brain in 20 seconds, it 
takes longer for marijuana in food to take effect. Also, marijuana 
can have more of a psychedelic effect when eaten.

And marijuana candy bars may contain more THC, the drug's main active 
ingredient, than marijuana cigarettes do. And it's possible, Stage 
said, that even a small amount could have a strong effect on someone 
new to marijuana.

"If you use drugs a lot, you build up tolerance," he said.

As for me, I'm grateful I didn't like the taste of that candy bar. 
What if I had eaten the entire thing?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom