Advocacy Group: Commercialization Of Legal Pot Has Led To ‘Epidemic’ For Colorado Kids

[Jesus Malverde]

Source: CBS

The results of a new study about the impact of Colorado’s marijuana legalization is raising troubling questions for parents. The study cites a significant increase in marijuana-related traffic deaths, hospital visits and school suspensions.

The parents CBS4’s Melissa Garcia spoke with say they’re concerned about their children seeing messages promoting pot all over town. Activists say it’s the way pot is marketed and sold that has started to create some serious problems.

“I never dreamed in a million years that this would happen to my son,” said parent Kendal, who didn’t want to use his last name.

Kendal came home one evening to find his 13-year-old son unconscious from what he says was a marijuana overdose.

Read more: http://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/09/20/smart-colorado-hearing-from-hundreds-hundreds-of-parents-about-pot-use/

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“Kids have no idea how dangerous or harmful Colorado’s pot is,” she said.

[jtuck004]

1. Same thing in WA by the anti-cannabis bigots. Want to make it illegal again, and won't stop

until they do.

[Vincardog]

2. " find his 13-year-old son unconscious from what he says was a marijuana overdose" Horse Shit

" He was gray. His heart wasn’t beating and he wasn’t breathing,” Double load of Bull Shit.
Prove it or STFU

[frylock]

8. He was gray. His heart wasn’t beating and he wasn’t breathing..

this could have been the first ever recorded death from marijuana overdose in history if she hadn't got there just in the nick of time to resuscitate the poor child.

[Vincardog]

9. I want to know what strain he was huffing.

[winstars]

40. I want some of what he has please... Such complete BS

[snooper2]

46. I had to chuckle when I read that part LOL

“I had heard from kids that there was 60 percent of this particular high school using drugs, and she shook her head and said, ‘That’s way low,'” Kendal said.




Reefer Madness 2015

[Snotcicles]

3. I've never heard of marijuana overdose. nt

[Vincardog]

7. That is because there has never been a confirmed case of MJ harming anyone. The worst effect

Is a serious case of the munchies and a good nap.

[jwirr]

4. This whole protest is just a rerun of the old anti-pot propaganda. Mj related traffic

deaths? hospital visits? Where were those things when we were using in the 60s?

As for school suspensions. That is the school not the law.

And finally I don't think that the new laws make it legal for kids to use pot. Didn't the laws include age limits just like alcohol?

[ShrimpPoboy]

5. I have no issue

with regulating pot advertising like we do with alcohol and cigarettes.

[uncle ray]

60. Colorado already has stricter mj advertising regulations than cigs or alcohol.

[Half-Century Man]

6. So he got stoned and fell asleep.

Do you have a toxicology report showing the only inebrant in his system was THC?

[lark]

10. "Reefer Madness"

part deux. Just as ridiculous as the original.

[Cartoonist]

15. Regarding overdose

I read a story recently about someone drinking too much iced tea. While it isn't technically an overdose, it does show that too much of anything can be harmful.

The emerging problem with marijuana is it's usage in edibles. THC levels can be very high and any user unfamiliar with what they are eating may get nauseous. Sounds like this kid ate too many brownies.

I am 61. Been smoking pot since 18. While my health isn't ideal, my problems are due to bad eating habits, not smoking ones.

[lark]

47. I've never seen anyone throw up from eating mj brownies.

i'm about the same age as you and we have some of the same habits. I did have a non-smoking friend who ate 2 enhanced brownies, got absolutely non-stop giggling, falling down, shit faced and passed out for quite a few hours. That's the worst reaction I've ever seen. When I've seen people hurling, I always thought it was the drinking and smoking together that prompted that reaction.

[wordpix]

56. I did know someone who vomited once after hash brownie

ingestion. She just ate too many. They were so yummy.

[Wilms]

11. CPR classes for all parents of 13 yos.

Problem solved.



Lucky for CBS, there are probably a lot of people who won't question their "report".

[ctsnowman]

12. Because

we all know teens were never going to try it as long as it was illegal.

[Jesus Malverde]

13. Illegal cannabis is not nearly as dangerous or harmful as Colorado’s pot is....

That stuff makes you turn grey.

[Laser102]

39. LOL!

[Crowman1979]

14. Would it be better if her son was unarmed and killed by the police over an ounce of weed?

[Demeter]

19. It would be better if her son had no reason, or means, to get drugged

Ask any parent.

WTF is wrong with living without drugs? Drugs are for sick people, really sick people who won't recover without medical assistance.

Drugs as a "lifestyle" can end that life abruptly, either through the drug itself, or from the suppliers and any accompanying criminal elements, or from the waste of resources needed to live.

[maxsolomon]

26. An unrealistic approach to Parenting, frankly.

You don't need a "reason" to alter your brain chemistry other than curiosity, and teens are going to have that no matter what parents do. And prohibition? I think we've demonstrated that doesn't work.

Ibuprofen is a drug - how much pain do I have to have to use it by your standards?

Alcohol, a deadly intoxicant, is a "drug" as well. A legal drug that one should be trained to use responsibly: in moderation, and never while driving. This is how we raised our kids - no forbidden fruit. If you drink, if you get high, just don't drive. Don't risk arrest, a crash, whatever. Just stay where you are, or call us and we'll come get you, no matter when. No judgment.

Both kids graduated Cum Laude.

[tblue37]

58. And caffeine is an addictive psychoactive drug. nt

[Laha]

30. A little more perspective..

"Drugs are for sick people"

Have you ever drank a cup of coffee? Smoked a cigarette? Got a sugar rush?

'Drugs' is the word people have demonized to make it sound bad, but the reality is humanity has been turning to substances to change the way we feel since we realized we could put things in our mouths. Drugs are generally not chosen as a lifestyle, and you will not stop people from turning to some sort of substance to enhance their experience in life, whether it be diabetes-causing sugar, cancer-causing tobacco or munchies-causing marijuana.

Of course there's nothing wrong with living without 'drugs', but the idea of just making everyone stop using substances has been shown over and over to be pointless and ineffective. If the legal dispensaries are making marijuana available to kids they should be shut down, but you're doing everyone a disservice by statements alluding to life-threatening situations when we are talking about pot.

Education and regulation is, in my opinion, the only way to help reduce the potential for harm in this situation. You will never stop people from smoking a weed that grows almost anywhere - and if you try the only people supplying it will be the ones that don't care one bit about quality control or who they sell to.

[Taitertots]

41. Marijuana isn't just for sick people. It's for recreation too.

I'd rather have parents be parents, and let adults who want to use marijuana live in peace.

[Aristus]

45. The anti-drug hysteria is a bit much.

As pointed out above, wisely I think, there are a lot of drugs that we human beings use even if we are not sick; caffeine, alcohol, nicotine. Aspirin and Tylenol are drugs. Clutching one's pearls and hovering over the fainting couch because of marijuana seems a little disingenuous.

I have a lot of patients who use marijuana. I advise them to choose a route other than smoking it, but otherwise have no medical objection to its use. I enjoy my visits with these patients much more than visits with patients nursing a jones for addictive pharmaceuticals like Percocet or clonazepam. Once or twice a year, I'll get a patient who will ask me for a marijuana green card (I'm not licensed to issue them.); that's opposed to the three or four patients a week who try to shake me down for an FDA-approved narc or benzo.

[alarimer]

57. Altering consciousness has been a part of human behavior for thousands of years

Before they learned how to make it themselves, I'll bet people ate fermented berries, like birds sometimes do.

It feels good, so they do it.

[valerief]

16. Time to pull out Reefer Madness again or this one:

[valerief]

17. This is the real fear of marijuana.

[DonCoquixote]

18. question

has anyone done a study where you can measure whether or not someone is in effect DUI with Cannabis? I know there are some people who claim to drive just fine on pot, ut I am wondering if anyone did an actual study, or even came up with a DUI equivalent for Cannabis?

That being said DUI should be just that, if you are too whatever to drive, you should not.

[maxsolomon]

27. Yes, the WA State law established thresholds for active THC and impairment

although the problem tends to be driving too slow!

[DonCoquixote]

31. interesting

if I may ask, is it a blood or urine test?

[maxsolomon]

32. blood

[Jimbo101]

20. Reason.com debunking the report

Drug Warriors Try but Fail to Show That Marijuana Legalization Has Been a Disaster in Colorado

https://reason.com/blog/2014/08/15/drug-warriors-try-but-fail-to-show-that

[blackspade]

21. I suspect bullshittery and false correlations in this 'report'

Hell there isn't even a link to the study that isn't through a paywall.

[DefenseLawyer]

22. There has been a 200% increase in really fast piano playing

Which obviously leads to dancing and then to.... God help us all!

[upaloopa]

23. Sounds like an episode of reefer madness

Is this a remake of that old movie?

[jmowreader]

24. Pot is still not legal for Colorado kids

As to the kid who almost died from the "marijuana overdose," it looks like the kid got some laced weed. Pure weed won't give you an overdose, but "superweed" or "killer weed" that's been soaked in meth or PCP definitely could.

[maxsolomon]

28. Might it have been this synthetic MJ?

K2/Spice?

I have no clue; the MJ I buy is clearly labeled as to strain, THC and CBD content.

[jmowreader]

33. That's a definite possibility

I can tell you what it is NOT, tho, and that's pure marijuana.

[Wolf Frankula]

25. The Mothers Against Everything and Everyone are Back

Time for fear mongering, bogus statistics, high pressuring politicians and outright lying.

Wolf

[Javaman]

29. In other news: Reefer Madness is required viewing for all Colorado Parents...

[Chakaconcarne]

34. I wouldn't quite point this all to reefer madness type hysteria

Commercialization has brought about ALOT of innovation around THC extraction to where they can extract almost 100% THC. Legalization is not necessarily to blame, but it has lead to this, it's new and may not be reflected accurately in past harm stats....

I don't know how anyone could ingest that potent of THC and not have a bad outcome... especially an infrequent user.

We shouldn't just brush this off.. We should listen so we can solve the issue, before this blows up and we lose our new freedoms with MJ.

[Taitertots]

43. Hash has been available for decades (if not centuries)

What do you think changes when it goes from 90%+ to 100%? The advances are mostly related to flavor and smokability.

AND people were doing column chromatography at least as early as the 1960's.

[Dont call me Shirley]

35. The teenage drinking rates must have dropped steeply in CO. The liquor industry is pitching a fit!

[niyad]

50. the snack industry, on the other hand. . . .

[Dont call me Shirley]

54. Mmmm, Cheetos. Soft not crunchy, crunchy would sound too loud and feel like it's taking forever

to chew...

[niyad]

61. soft cheetos?? are they as orange as the other stuff?

[Dont call me Shirley]

63. Cheetos Naturals are not quite as orange and they taste better...

orange sinsimellian?

[niyad]

64. will take your word for it.

[hobbit709]

36. What a load of metabolic byproducts.

This so-called epidemic is backed by WHAT statistics except those in the minds of this antipot group that pulled them out of their collective asses.

[Gregorian]

37. Sugar is poison. Pot is medicine. Foolish idiots.

They should be far more concerned about high blood sugar than a natural, beneficial substance.

Communism...drugs... Just mindlessly parrot the mantras you've been hammered with.

[d_legendary1]

38. Kids have no idea but they smoke it anyways

It isn't Colorado who is at fault here. Smoking and drinking are illegal for minors but it doesn't stop them from doing it. At some point parents are going to have to be responsible for what their children do and don't do with their lives.

[Taitertots]

42. The kids parents believed his heroin nup was caused by weed?

Maybe OxyContin or something similar, but it's literally impossible that it was caused by Pot.

[fbc]

44. Consumption of edibles would go down if there was a place to legally smoke

You can buy it, but there is nowhere you can smoke it legally.

[brooklynite]

48. ...better ban alcohol as well. Never know if kids will get their hands on some.

[niyad]

49. prove it, with legitimate, reliable data from legitimate, reliable sources.

[niyad]

51. so, who is the group that did this report? who funded it?

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

52. I betcha it's let to a 'PARTY' For Colorado Kids.

[HassleCat]

53. Pot anecdotes

Law enforcement people like to spread these stories. There is one where some kid gets ahold of a Super Pot cookie and accidentally ingests such a huge amount of THC that he murders his parents. Or something like that. There are numerous versions of this tale.

[wordpix]

55. what else did the kid take? Alcohol, maybe, or ecstasy?

just wondering. I have seen people overdose on mj - one vomited, one lost his balance and fell on the floor (this man had a brain injury and was not supposed to take non-prescribed drugs or alcohol). I myself have staggered around a bit. That's the extent of all mj overdoses I've experienced or seen in 45 yrs. of off-on pot ingestion while hanging out with others.

As for alcohol, I know people who've had to go to the hosp. to get their stomachs pumped. Far more serious consequences.

[Trajan]

59. Once the laughter dies down ...

There are some serious questions raised here ...

1) Increase in Traffic Accidents ... If this is true, then there needs to be an honest effort to reverse this dangerous trend ... Teens are already trouble on the road, and adding another source of impairment will have unfortunate consequences.

2) Method of advertisement ... It is reasonable to expect pot advertisement to be treated like alcohol and cigarettes ... I happen to agree that advertising for all of these products should not be targeted at teens, and should be low key ...

3) I once had gotten very very very stoned ... I really don't know if it was due to other factors, but I immediately stopped after getting caught in a wave of nausea and sweaty palpitations .... Mind you; It could be I was having a medical event and just happened to be very very stoned .... But, it was pretty intense ...

I wouldn't ever say we need to return to criminalization; legalization is the only way, but we do need to get real about the real effects of usage.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

62. Did anyone else notice this is ONDCP propaganda?

Yep, it's from your friendly National Drug Czar, and the report is full of lies, half-truths, and obfuscation. In other words, it's what drug czars do.