Colorado's edible pot industry goes from public enemy to public-health leader, and wants Canada to take note

BOULDER, Colorado - A tray of tempting pastel-coloured candies sits on a countertop inside AmeriCanna's production facility. Although shaped like pot leaves and stamped with Colorado's universal symbol for the mind-altering ingredient in cannabis - a diamond containing the letters "THC" - the gummies would only provide a sugar high at this point.

Working with precision and speed, the kitchen supervisor uses a device to soak each candy with marijuana extract, so that each piece contains exactly 10 milligrams of THC, a single dose under the state's regulations.

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If consumers are going to purchase and consume beer and other alcohol products [Re: Cannabis Corner, "Are People Switching From Booze To Pot?," Jan. 19], consider purchasing them from companies who do not support or enable cannabis (marijuana) prohibition. That's not always easy to do.

In the past, large beer producers contributed to the Ad Council, which aired anti-cannabis rhetoric using lies, half-truths and propaganda in order to perpetuate cannabis prohibition, in part to eliminate competition. Another thing making it difficult to know which companies are harmful is the way large breweries are purchasing small craft breweries.

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It's a question people have been wondering about for years: Would marijuana be a competitor to alcohol if it were legal?

Now a new study is out suggesting it might.

The Marijuana Times recently reported that according to a study conducted by the research firm Cowen and Company, beer markets in Colorado, Oregon and Washington have "collectively underperformed" over the past three years.

All three states have both legal recreational marijuana and a popular craft beer culture.

"With all three of these states now having fully implemented a marijuana retail infrastructure, the underperformance of beer in these markets has worsened over the course of 2016," according to the report.

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