Posted on 04/20/2014 6:04:41 PM PDT by mgist
DENVER – A college student eats more than the recommended dose of a marijuana-laced cookie and jumps to his death from a hotel balcony. A husband with no history of violence is accused of shooting his wife in the head, possibly after eating pot-infused candy. The two recent deaths have stoked concerns about Colorado’s recreational marijuana industry and the effects of the drug, especially since cookies, candy and other pot edibles can be exponentially more potent than a joint.
“We’re seeing hallucinations, they become sick to their stomachs, they throw up, they become dizzy and very anxious,” said Al Bronstein, medical director of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center. Studies are mixed about whether there is any link between marijuana and violence. Still, pot legalization opponents said the deaths are a sign of future dangers.
Twenty-six people have reported poisonings from marijuana edibles this year, when the center started tracking such exposures. Six were children who swallowed innocent-looking edibles, most of which were in plain sight.
Five of those kids were sent to emergency rooms, and two to hospitals for intensive care, Bronstein said. Children were nauseous and sleepy, and doctors worried about their respiratory systems shutting down. Supporters of the pot law and some experts counter that alcohol causes far more problems among users, and the issues with pot can be largely addressed through better regulations.
The deaths occurred as Colorado lawmakers are scrambling to create safety regulations for the largely unmonitored marijuana snacks. On Thursday, the Legislature advanced a package of bills that would lower the amount of THC that could be permitted in a serving of food and require more extensive warning labels.
“It really is time for regulators, and the industry, to look at how do we move forward more responsibly with edible products,” said Brian Vicente, who helped lead the state’s legalization campaign.
An autopsy report listed marijuana intoxication as a significant contributing factor in the death of 19-year-old Levy Thamba Pongi. Authorities said Pongi, who traveled from Wyoming to Denver with friends to try marijuana, ate six times more than the amount recommended by a seller. In the moments before his death, he spoke erratically and threw things around his hotel room.
RELATED: College Student Ate 6 Times Recommended Amount Of Pot Cookie Before Jumping To Death
Toxicologists later found that the cookie Pongi ate contained as much THC – marijuana’s intoxicating chemical – as six high-quality joints.
Kristine Kirk, left, and Richard Kirk, right 
Less is known about Richard Kirk, 47, who was charged in Denver with shooting his 44-year-old wife, Kristine, to death while she was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. Police said his wife reported that her husband had consumed marijuana-laced candy, but no information has been released about potency. The public defender’s office has declined comment on the allegations against Kirk.
RELATED: Husband Charged With Murder In Wife’s Shooting Death “Sadly, we’re going to start to understand over time all of the damage and all of the problems associated with marijuana,” said Thornton police Sgt. Jim Gerhardt, speaking in his capacity as a board member of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association. “It’s going to dispel the myth that there’s no downside, that there’s no side effect, to this drug. It’s sad that people are going to have to be convinced with the blood of Coloradans.”
State lawmakers last year required edible pot to be sold in “serving sizes” of 10 milligrams of THC. Lawmakers also charged marijuana regulators with setting potency-testing guidelines to ensure consumers know how much pot they’re eating. The guidelines are slated to be unveiled next month.
For now, the industry is trying to educate consumers about the strength of pot-infused foods and warning them to wait up to an hour to feel any effects before eating more. Still, complaints from visitors and first-time users have been rampant.
“One of the problems is people become very impatient,” Bronstein said. “They eat a brownie or a chocolate chip cookie and they get no effect, so then they stack the doses, and all the sudden, they get an extreme effect that they weren’t expecting.”
Last year, the poison center run by Bronstein received 126 calls concerning adverse reactions to marijuana. So far this year – after pot sales became legal on Jan. 1 – the center has gotten 65 calls. Bronstein attributed the spike to the higher concentrations of THC in marijuana that has become available.
Although millions of Americans have used pot without becoming violent, Bronstein said such behavior is possible depending on the type of hallucinations a user experiences. Toxicologists say genetic makeup, health issues and other factors also can make a difference. “With these products, everybody is inexperienced,” Bronstein said. “It’s the first time people have been able to buy it in a store. People need to be respectful of these products.”
I wonder what Western Civilization would be like if it had steered clear of alcohol.
I admit people to the hospital on a fairly regular basis that are psychotic and hallucinating while smoking or consuming marijuana. Many are hearing the voice of God and/or Satan. Many others think that others are out to hurt them, including their loved ones.
You can see how that could very easily end up in tragedy. I say tragedy, but I consider it an assumed risk of consuming a mind-altering substance.
Well that’s true, it does have some health benefits. Of course most of them are irrelevant now. So the next question is, going forward, does alcohol help or hurt our society?
Backwards, like the cultures that have mostly done that.
Alcohol was almost indispensable to civilization, it is why new theories are crediting beer with civilization, and its abundant mention in the bible.
“the issues with pot can be largely addressed through better regulations”
That’s the ticket! Is it just me or is this really the lib answer for pretty much everything?
Alcohol makes people drive better too, ask any drunk.
Pot is legal in WA. Starting to see BC weed coming across the border again. Haven’t seen weed coming across in a couple years.
Beer and wine were dinner table beverages in a lot of families even for the kids where I grew up and there are very few people to this day who, IMHO, abuse consumption of those two to the detriment of anyone but themselves.
Liquor? I've seen more women and children nearly beaten to death by the "man" of the house who was drunk and pissed off at them than I've seen men beaten badly for all reasons combined. If the "man" of the house had tried the same thing at a bar or club he'd have been throttled and under arrest in short order.
For full disclosure, I like some brands of Scotch and fifth lasts me around a year, maybe ten months on average. I don't know how you make it illegal but I don't know how you can say it's anything other than that on balance it's a curse, one I wouldn't miss if it all vanished overnight.
Isn't infantacide working "just fine" now that it's legal and well regulated?
Oh, (sarc), if you really need it.
Heart of the Country - 1971
Band on The Run - 1973
Jet - 1973
Live and Let Die - 1973
My Love - 1973
Listen to What the Man Said - 1975
Silly Love Songs - 1976
Let 'Em In - 1976
Mull of Kintyre - 1977
London Town - 1978
Girlfriend - 1978
With a Little Luck - 1978
Rockestra Theme - 1978
Goodnight Tonight - 1979
Daytime Nighttime Suffering - 1979
Wonderful Christmastime 1979
Coming Up - 1980
Ebony and Ivory - 1982
Take it Away - 1982
Pipes of Peace - 1983
No More Lonely Nights 1984
C'Mon People - 1993
Hope of Deliverance - 1993
Freedom - 2001
Ever Present Past - 2007
Or it could be that people get older and escape the passion of their youth.
But whatever the case, at the age of seventy one, Sir Paul McCartney (net worth 1.1 billion dollars) can fill any arena, auditorium or stadium in the World.
He is currently on his "Out There! Tour" and your comment makes me suspect that you may be the person on drugs.
What amazes me the most about the legalization of marijuana is the fact that smoking it is “good” while smoking a tobacco cigarette is “bad.”
What is up is down, what is down is up in the smoking Bizarro world of smoke Nazis.
And now that alcohol has enabled the existence of Western Culture, does it help us or hurt us going forward?
Yeah, I saw McCartney in Milwaukee last summer. At least I saw a tiny figure 400 feet away. His best songs are still his sixties songs. You’re like my wife who loves everything he did... even all his slop. Which is what his post-sixties output was.
Maybe the Coloradans who voted for this didn’t consider the children who would die after eating tainted cookies that were not meant for children.
That is how the game works here in Colorado.
Wow. So it is true.
Boy have we been sold a bill of goods.
The war on drugs or legalize pot? The war on drugs prepared the way for a militarized police state. Now militarization is almost complete it is ok to legalize drugs and take over the health system. You need pacify the masses. Almost /S
Shouldn’t you be starting a thread on that bizarre question rather than hijacking one on drugs?
Well, you answered my first question about alcohol with such enthusiasm that I thought I’d ask a second.
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