Pubdate: Sat, 07 Feb 2015
Source: Glenwood Springs Post Independent (CO)
Copyright: 2015 Glenwood Springs Post Independent
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/ys97xJAX
Website: http://www.postindependent.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/821
Author: Phil Lindeman

BRECKENRIDGE HOTELS TRAIN EMPLOYEES ABOUT MARIJUANA EDIBLES AFTER 
ACCIDENTAL OVERDOSES

It's a tradition as old as timeshares: When guests pack up to head 
home after a ski vacation, they often bid adieu by leaving unused 
food, wine and beer in their room for the housekeeping staff.

Then legal marijuana entered the picture.

In the past year, employees from a handful of Summit County lodges 
have visited the hospital after accidentally eating marijuana 
edibles, according to the Breckenridge Police Department. The 
department does not yet track individual cases, but marijuana 
resource officer Caitlin Kontak says "at least several" employees or 
their family members have sought medical help for edibles. When 
paired with concerns over youth abuse and prevention, they have fast 
become one of the cannabis industry's most controversial and 
polarizing products.

For hotel management and law enforcement, the edibles issue comes 
down to familiarity. Infused products can look and taste like nearly 
anything - brownies, chocolate bars, hard candy, soda - and according 
to Kontak, those innocent similarities are often enough to catch 
employees off-guard. The state tightened packaging requirements in 
November, but the changes only affected potency, dosage and 
childproof packaging, not the name or appearance of a product.

"If you've seen some of the labels on these candy bars, the writing 
that says it contains THC is microscopic and they're all very 
similarly packaged," Kontak says. "The main problem with hotels is 
that people know they can't take marijuana home. That's one of the 
few rules everyone is aware of, so instead of taking it back, they 
leave it as a tip, just as they would with any kind of food in a hotel."

The edibles-as-tips cases tend to follow a pattern: A hotel employee 
finds the leftover edibles in an empty guest room and eats them like 
any other sweets. But recreational products contain up to 100 
milligrams of THC, which is roughly the potency of 64 joints made 
with pre-legalization marijuana, Kontak says. Without knowing the 
dosage - first-time users shouldn't eat more than 5 to 10 milligrams 
at a time - the employee can take upwards of 10 times the recommended 
amount of THC.

On occasion, employees unknowingly bring edibles home to share with 
their families, as was the case last June in Basalt when a 7-year-old 
girl ate infused chocolate her mother brought back from an Aspen hotel.

Since taking over as Breckenridge PD's marijuana officer, Kontak has 
worked closely with lodges, schools and other groups to parse through 
the facts and myths about edibles. She's visited almost every lodge 
and hotel in Breckenridge, along with the Wyndham Vacation Resorts 
team and a number of local HOAs. At the informal meetings, she 
supplied fact sheets, images of various edibles and a Powerpoint 
presentation with details on their effects.

"They don't want to outlaw any edibles because it's hard to enforce, 
but they want to be cautionary," Kontak says. "They want people to 
know that the effects can be very different, that people may not know 
what to expect when they eat an edible."

 From there, Kontak says most lodges use her materials to build 
in-house training programs.

At Beaver Run Resort, assistant general manager Chris Pappas has 
revamped hotel policy to clarify marijuana rules - and concerns - for 
both employees and guests. The staff is still allowed to take 
leftover food, but the hotel's marijuana policy is now part of the 
registration process. If a guest violates the policy, which includes 
no smoking marijuana anywhere on the property, they are fined $500. 
The policy does not mention edibles.

"For us, the biggest issue is the smoke," says Pappas, who says his 
staff handles one case "every few weeks" involving marijuana use. 
"That's what permeates down the hallway and can affect other people. 
Quite frankly, this isn't a revenue-generating thing with the fines. 
I can tell you that whatever we've gained in fines, we've had to give 
way more back for unhappy guests."

INFUSION EDUCATION

The hotel edibles cases are the latest revolving around infused 
products, which Summit County dispensary owners say are increasingly 
popular with the out-of-state guests who stay at local lodges.

Yet neighboring resort communities have seen few - if any - 
incidents. In Pitkin County, home to Aspen, the June scare is the 
only recorded case of accidental edible ingestion, while officials 
with Vail Police Department and Eagle County Sheriff's Office say 
there have been no reported cases in Vail, EagleVail or Edwards.

Thanks to legalization, Kontak believes marijuana users are more 
likely to report medical issues. She says about half of people who 
call 911 admit to eating edibles, while the other half tend to share 
that information with medical personnel only.

"People don't really tell cops a lot, but they'll tell medics 
everything," Kontak says. To get a better grasp on edibles and 
accidental consumption, she is working closely with Red, White and 
Blue Fire Protection District to keep track of every case involving 
typical side effects: shortness of breath, anxiety, hallucinations, 
elevated heart rate.

For parents, the possibility that their child will accidentally eat 
an edible is a major concern. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, 
Kontak distributed an edibles fact sheet to schools and recreation 
centers. It complemented education efforts by other Summit County 
groups, including an edibles labeling campaign supported by the 
Healthy Futures Initiative.

"If an adult eats an infused product, it's much easier to explain to 
them what's happening," Kontak says. "If a child eats a product, the 
only thing they know is that it feels like they're dying."

At Beaver Run Resort, education efforts begin in the staff room. 
Pappas has posted PSA-style information about edibles, and marijuana 
is a regular topic during daily meetings. He tweaked Kontak's 
information to give his staff the basics, such as where to find THC 
content on labels, and his employees were grateful.

"They appreciate the fact we took the time to make them aware of 
these issues and let them know our position," Pappas says. "There has 
been no negative feedback from our employees."

[sidebar]

Edibles 101

The state's Marijuana Enforcement Division set new rules for edibles 
last November following a rash of accidental overdoses. A glimpse at 
the tighter regulations:

- - The maximum THC content of any marijuana edible, recreational or 
medical, is 100 milligrams.

- - The serving size for a first-time user is 5 to 10 milligrams.

- - Edibles must be easily broken into single servings.

- - All edibles, including liquids like Keef Cola, must come in 
child-resistant containers.

- - Packaging and containers must clearly list the THC content.

- - Edibles from second-party manufacturers must come pre-packaged. 
Dispensaries can no longer separate and package edibles individually 
at the counter.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom