After 5 Months Of Sales, Colorado Sees The Downside Of A Legal High

[bobandtorey]

DENVER — Five months after Colorado became the first state to allow recreational marijuana sales, the battle over legalization is still raging.

Law enforcement officers in Colorado and neighboring states, emergency room doctors and legalization opponents increasingly are highlighting a series of recent problems as cautionary lessons for other states flirting with loosening marijuana laws.

There is the Denver man who, hours after buying a package of marijuana-infused Karma Kandy from one of Colorado’s new recreational marijuana shops, began raving about the end of the world and then pulled a handgun from the family safe and killed his wife, the authorities say. Some hospital officials say they are treating growing numbers of children and adults sickened by potent doses of edible marijuana. Sheriffs in neighboring states complain about stoned drivers streaming out of Colorado and through their towns.

“I think, by any measure, the experience of Colorado has not been a good one unless you’re in the marijuana business,” said Kevin A. Sabet, executive director of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes legalization. “We’ve seen lives damaged. We’ve seen deaths directly attributed to marijuana legalization. We’ve seen marijuana slipping through Colorado’s borders. We’ve seen marijuana getting into the hands of kids.”

 

Read more Here

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/us/after-5-months-of-sales-colorado-sees-the-downside-of-a-legal-high.html

[phaquetoo]

we here in MI have always seen mj get into the hands of kids, and what about the alcohol that parents let their kids drink at graduation partys, and kids getting the naro's from their parents drug cabinet, Ive heard of people dying from rx's and alcohol, any time ive seen some one use to much mj well they got the munchies and giggled them selves till their face hurt, its all b,s!

 

Lets here what irs is saying about the tax revenue from it! people are going to break laws no matter what Im all for giving leo a cut of the funds for people who out ragiously break the law!

 

same ole shcit different day!

 

Peace

[solabeirtan]

Colorado alcohol related deaths were 152 in 2012. Including 19 by minors. 

 

2 for Recreational Cannabis. In fact the first two ever recorded? 

[Wild Bill]

Maybe they're right. According to this public service announcement marihuana will make you become a gay jewish communist.

 

[jointedone]

DANG! How did you know I wanted to be a gay jewish communist?  

[t-pain]

the downside of legalizing?
1. people are realizing that you have been lying for years about marijuana.
2. people realizing the costs of the drug war and how prohibition never works.
3. prisons, courts, police, drug rehab and drug testing firms are losing money!
4. crime is down, prison and court costs are down and police can focus on real crime now.

5. mafia, organized crime, cartels, black markets are losing money!

oh wait, those are all upsides.

[Indigro]

They gutted the MO mj law over the claim of harm to children, along with putting some decent people through legal hell. And when the census stats came out, no real change to underage drug use. Oh well, save the kids, still sounds good.

[t-pain]

do you mean MT for montana ?

[GregS]

 Marijuana doesn't kill people. People kill people.

Edited June 2, 2014 by GregS

[mrduckstwo]

These seem like dosage related problems to me, and I wonder if edibles are safe enough for general consumption. When smoking or vaporizing, dose titration is easy because you feel the effects almost immediately. Not so with ingestion, with its delayed onset.

 

There are so many unanswered questions. For example, would a person predisposed to psychosis be less likely to experience a psychotic episode if they were vaporizing (rather than ingesting)? Perhaps they would start feeling a little paranoid after the first hit or two and back off before things got out of control. The potential for self-regulation seems better, at least.

 

In my opinion, legalization in Colorado is an experiment that is likely to fail without additional study and work. High profile negative outcomes like these threaten to turn the tide of public opinion against legalization, and gives ammunition to its opponents.

[t-pain]

the psycosis thing seems like junk science to me.

that bunny muffin doesnt fly in court either. 'the pot made me do it' , you seen anyone use that excuse and get out of jail ?

you want to prove it was marijuana that caused that kid to jump out a window and that guy to shoot his family?

its easy. just tell me what prescriptions were found in the toxicology reports. 

 

a few high profile cases in 5 months? more people died from alcohol poisoning in colorado during the same 5 months i bet.

 

 

a guy acidentally shoots his girlfriend while trying to rob someone who bought marijuana?

sure its marijuana related. but people rob other people for cars, shoes, watches and phones, i guess we should ban those first.

why were they robbing people buying marijuana? because marijuana prices are artificially inflated due to lack of supply.

 

if you make tobacco cost $20 / gram , people will be robbed for ciggarettes too.

thats how supply and demand works.

[DoobieWan]

It was always my understanding that you could not OD (die) from ingesting MJ in any form. So if I ever got too stoned I would just calm down and ride it out. It was typically more related to what I was doing in addition to the MJ that was the problem anyway. If people were better educated maybe they wouldn't be freaking out and running to the hospital.

 

The opponents will be digging up any sorry example to support their view (and undoubtedly making up many stories too). The proponents need to keep the facts straight and keep it in perspective. I seriously doubt this will result in the major catastrophe they are painting it to be.

[Wild Bill]

These seem like dosage related problems to me, and I wonder if edibles are safe enough for general consumption.

 

Yes they are. Just don't eat the whole pan of brownies because you don't feel it after five minutes.

 

Start with 1/2 an edible, wait two hours and then go from there.

[Norby]

Cops can't even follow those directions what hope has the general public.  Sorry, I had to.

 

Edited June 3, 2014 by Norby

[GregS]

Cannabis does not kill people. People kill people.

 

The only person who can stop a bad guy with cannabis is a good guy with cannabis.

 

Or as Ted Nugent cogently put it, "Kiss My Azz."

 

Join the MRA today.

[Guanotea1]

Why can't the prohibitionists take themselves more seriously?

 

Instead they insist on providing weak anecdotal evidence. Take a broad brush to the situation

1) How many less people are in jail now than if rec cannabis were not legalized? How does that translate into benefits for society writ large?

2) How many serious health problems (injuries and the like) have been avoided, and how many have been caused, by rec cannabis?

3) How much money now in the hands of schools, responsible business people, etc, as opposed to the cartel?

 

I suspect they can't take themselves more seriously, because, looking at the situation logically and with cold hard facts does not support their arguments. But a few anecdotes might be able to convince a few weak minded individuals who were already leaning that way. 

 

(Our group suffers from the same problem of over-generalizing anecdotal data)

 

This arguments are shiyat.

[bobandtorey]

Cops can't even follow those directions what hope has the general public.  Sorry, I had to.

 

Lol thanks you beat me too it 

[bobandtorey]

Why can't the prohibitionists take themselves more seriously?

 

Instead they insist on providing weak anecdotal evidence. Take a broad brush to the situation

1) How many less people are in jail now than if rec cannabis were not legalized? How does that translate into benefits for society writ large?

2) How many serious health problems (injuries and the like) have been avoided, and how many have been caused, by rec cannabis?

3) How much money now in the hands of schools, responsible business people, etc, as opposed to the cartel?

 

I suspect they can't take themselves more seriously, because, looking at the situation logically and with cold hard facts does not support their arguments. But a few anecdotes might be able to convince a few weak minded individuals who were already leaning that way. 

 

(Our group suffers from the same problem of over-generalizing anecdotal data)

 

This arguments are shiyat.

 cherry-picked is what they do