Pubdate: Mon, 18 Apr 2016
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Matt Robinson
Page: 9

LOCAL HEALTH OFFICIALS CLASH WITH POT EVENT ORGANIZERS

Health officials are warning organizers of Vancouver's annual 4/20 
pot protest to prohibit marijuana sales to minors and to 
self-regulate sales of infused edibles.

Vendors should card anyone under the age of 25 and limit sales of 
cannabis products that can be eaten or inhaled to buyers aged 19 and 
older, a medical health officer at Vancouver Coastal Health told 
protest organizer Jeremiah Vandermeer last week in an email obtained 
by Postmedia News.

Sellers should also clearly indicate the serving size of edibles, 
caution buyers not to combine marijuana with alcohol, and inform them 
effects can take several hours, wrote the official.

"We are trying to reduce the number of people who will need medical 
attention that day. Last year there were over 100 visits to St. 
Paul's alone because of cannabis intoxication. Seventy-five per cent 
of them had consumed edibles," the official stated.

Vancouver Coastal Health's chief medical officer, Dr. Patricia Daly, 
confirmed that officials have been trying to reach organizers.

"We had patients as young as 15 years old," Daly said. "We are 
concerned about adolescents and youth being sold marijuana."

Organizer Jodie Emery said asking vendors to card anyone under the 
age of 25 is "unreasonable and unjustifiable," considering the 
protest event has had a safe record for more than two decades.

As for the number of people who required medical attention last year, 
Emery blamed dehydration because of the hot weather.

Daly called that "absolutely false," saying the majority of patients 
were suffering from ingesting too much marijuana.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom