Pubdate: Mon, 09 Jun 2014
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2014 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Susan Reimer
Page: 13
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n489/a04.html

MARUREEN DOWD'S DISASTEROUS ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH IS A LIFE LESSON

Wow. Does Maureen Dowd have an amazing job, or what?

Not only does the New York Times columnist occupy some of the most 
exclusive real estate in journalism, she got her editors to pay her 
way to Denver to score some dope and get high.

She sold the junket as a reporting trip. She'd been writing about 
Colorado's legalization of marijuana and wanted to see how the 
rollout was going. Makes sense. You don't cover the Super Bowl from 
your family room TV.

But you also don't suit up. And when the rookie doper - called a 
"noob" in the business - ate her way through an entire marijuana 
candy bar instead of taking just a bite, she had a really, really bad trip.

She ended up in the fetal position in her hotel room, in a paranoid 
haze, thinking that she was dead and nobody had told her. Once she 
came down many hours later, she wrote that this whole legalization of 
marijuana thing had some loose ends that needed to be tidied up. Like 
portion labels on candy bars.

Turns out, she had eaten enough to get 16 people high. Talk about 
bogarting the joint.

It happened because Ms. Dowd had become separated by her, for lack of 
a better term, pot tour guide. Apparently, you can now make a living 
in Colorado helping newbies and returning veterans understand the new 
potency of marijuana.

And somebody has to teach them to roll joints. Ms. Dowd didn't know 
how, so that's why she opted for the edible form, which takes several 
hours to take effect but can be much more potent. Smoking marijuana, 
by contrast, delivers a high in a couple of minutes and is therefore 
easier to manage. If you are really buzzed, you just don't take any 
more hits. Experts say.

But it was the reaction to Ms. Dowd's reefer madness column that made 
me realize that we have officially move to a new normal: Colorado was 
criticized for its poor marijuana business model.

No new business wants its customers to have a Maureen Dowd 
experience. Your repeat business is going to drop off precipitously 
if every newcomer eats too much and ends up in the hospital convinced 
they are covered in ants.

(Are you listening Washington state? There they are planning to roll 
out a liquid version of the chemical THC found in marijuana to spill 
into your - yes - coffee. The Starbucks state faces the unique 
challenge of finding just the right dose for "energized and 
optimistic" as opposed to "lethargic and hungry." Too much and coffee 
breaks will have a new, psychiatric definition.)

There is clearly a learning curve with marijuana. But there is also 
one with alcohol, and most people seem to figure it out eventually. 
It is just that you don't chug a beer and then find out it was 150 
proof beer. And, generally, you don't take your first drink alone in 
a hotel room - and then mistakenly drink the whole fifth. Soon 
enough, you learn how much wine makes you funny but not asleep.

The majority of Americans favor the legalization of marijuana, but my 
guess is that is because they understand what a criminal burden its 
sale and use has been on young people - not because they want to lock 
themselves in a Denver hotel room and see what happens.

Our own state of Maryland has decriminalized the drug, and one of our 
candidates for governor, Del. Heather Mizeur, favors its 
legalization. As is the case with cigarettes and alcohol, we are 
willing to let adults make their own decisions about such products. 
It has taken us a long time to realize that education and sensible 
regulation - not criminal prosecution - is the way to handle marijuana.

And, as per Ms. Dowd's experience, proper labeling for portion size 
and potency looks to be essential.

In the meantime, I would love to hear what the late gonzo journalist, 
Rolling Stone's Hunter S. Thompson, had to say about the fact that a 
columnist from the stuffy New York Times had taken over for him, 
writing wigged out columns in the middle of a raging high.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom