Pubdate: Mon, 21 Apr 2014
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Paresh Dave
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular)

IN COLORADO, POT FANS MAKE 4/20 ITS OWN HOLIDAY

Like St. Patrick's Day in Boston or New Year's Eve in New York City, 
April 20 seems to have a found an epicenter in Denver.

The annual global celebration of marijuana drew tens of thousands of 
people this weekend to festivals in the capital of Colorado, the 
first U.S. state to make the drug available for recreational use to 
anyone 21 or older.

Although marijuana now can be bought as easily as alcohol in 
Colorado, public consumption of marijuana products remains illegal. 
Denver officials were unwilling to waive that prohibition this weekend.

A Denver police spokesman said 22 people were cited downtown Saturday 
on suspicion of public consumption of marijuana, and 10 people were 
cited for other offenses. One man was booked into custody on 
suspicion of selling marijuana without a license. On Sunday, police 
cited 63 people by evening, 47 of them for public consumption.

The annual celebration falls on April 20, or 4/20, because a group of 
rebellious California teenagers in the 1970s supposedly decided to 
meet at 4:20 p.m. each day after school to smoke marijuana. As the 
legend spread, the date and time become synonymous with the push to 
celebrate the mood-altering green plant.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law. But U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric 
H. Holder Jr. has instructed federal authorities to focus on 
arresting big-time dealers and drug cartels, not individual users or 
locally licensed growers.

Holder has said that officials in most states are keeping a close eye 
on how things are working out in Colorado.

One issue is whether cookies, brownies and candies that have 
marijuana in them should be more strictly regulated in terms of 
potency and packaging.

In one recent Colorado case, cookies were sold with nearly six times 
the legal limit for THC, pot's active ingredient. A visiting college 
student ate an entire cookie and fell off a balcony to his death, 
officials say.

Police also are investigating a case in which a husband is accused of 
killing his wife after apparently consuming marijuana candy and a 
prescription painkiller.

Lawmakers have expressed concern that edible marijuana is getting 
into the hands of children, prompting an uptick in hospitalizations. 
Overall, 26 people have reported edible-marijuana poisonings this 
year, according Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom