Pubdate: Sun, 20 Apr 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Vincent Carroll
Page: 3D

ACCIDENTS WAITING TO HAPPEN

The large ginger snap cookie that I bought a few hours ago looks like
every other one I've consumed in my life. But if I ate this cookie, I
could end up in a very bad way - perhaps so panicked and distraught
that my colleagues would call for help.

The cookie contains 100 milligrams of THC, or 10 times what the state
designates as a single "serving" for a marijuana edible.

Levy Thamba, the college student who jumped to his death last month,
ate a marijuana cookie with six times the recommended amount of THC.
He awoke repeatedly in what his friends described as an incoherent
state, eventually smashing furniture, according to a Denver Post
story, before bolting over a railing and into a fatal fall.

It would be criminal to take my ginger cookie out of its package and
leave it on a desk or kitchen counter where some unsuspecting friend
might see it. Absent the wrapper, there is simply no way to know it is
anything but a harmless treat.

Colorado's edible marijuana market is a work in progress. The
Department of Revenue hastily released numerous rules governing
edibles' packaging and sale last summer, while warning that
"additional regulation" was likely. Thamba's death and the arrest this
week of Richard Kirk, who allegedly killed his wife in Denver after
consuming the edible "Karma Kandy Orange Ginger," should add new
urgency to rule-making.

Ardent pot partisans resent such talk, which they consider a throwback
to "reefer madness" propaganda. You can't protect some people from
their own stupidity, after all, and what about the violence spurred by
alcohol? Why doesn't the public get as worked up about that?

Fair points, but alcohol comes in unmistakable containers, not infused
in baked goods and candy. No one confuses a bottle of beer with a cola.

Some people will always overindulge in their drug of choice. But they
should do so by clear choice, not by mistake.

For that matter, consumers have developed a very good understanding of
what to expect from booze. Many have no such appreciation of edibles.
They don't know how much is enough or how long to wait for the high.

The helpful clerk who assisted me at Native Roots Apothecary in
downtown Denver (where Thamba's party also bought cookies) said to be
sure to wait 45 minutes for results. But the state-required packaging
says "the intoxicating effects of this product may be delayed for two
or more hours."

When the impatient Thamba felt nothing after eating a small portion of
his cookie, he reportedly finished the rest all at once.

Several of the edibles at Native Roots, including one style of cookie,
were either stand-alone 10 milligram items or single servings sold in
packages of 10. Shouldn't this be the standard? It won't prevent
overuse but it will reduce the impact from unwitting consumption or
the tendency to break off a hunk of an edible without any exact notion
of the resulting potency.

And shouldn't we be able to detect infused products by sight? House
Bill 1366 in the legislature would require any marijuana edible to be
"shaped, stamped, colored, or otherwise marked with a standard
symbol." That's essential.

I voted for Amendment 64 and have defended its implementation from
those who seek to chip away at its edges. I also know people with
serious medical conditions who consider marijuana edibles a godsend.

But this ginger snap cookie on my desk makes me very uneasy. It's both
an accident waiting to happen and an invitation to
overconsumption.

And it's so unnecessary.
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MAP posted-by: Matt