Marijuana Edibles Pose Threats to Colorado Adults and Children Alike
About a month ago, I posted a blog about a New York Times reporter who traveled to Denver to take a look at the legal recreational marijuana industry there. She thought she would try one of the marijuana edibles—brownies, cookies, gummy bears, drinks, and more—since she was reporting on the industry.
She took a nibble of her candy bar and when nothing happened for a while, took another nibble. An hour or so later, she experienced a full-on panic attack, complete with paranoia and paralysis. It lasted all night.
She had unintentionally overdosed on THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary intoxicating ingredient of marijuana. The next day, she learned that for a newcomer, that candy bar should have been cut into sixteen pieces.
Recently there was another incident like this from Colorado. In this case, a reporter who grew up in Colorado returned for a conference and described his colleagues as “giddy” about the fact that pot was being sold and consumed right outside the conference hall. He had a friend who had a similar experience to that of the New York Times reporter.
His friend—nicknamed “Dude” for this story—attended the same conference as the reporter. He bought a pack of 10 THC-laden gummy bears, this after not having smoked any pot for 25 years. He went to his hotel room and ate one before dinner. Nothing happened so during dinner, he ate another. Still nothing happened, so over time, he ate three more. At 1 AM, he awoke dizzy and light-headed. The reporter described his friend’s experience: “He tried to stand, but his left leg was so numb he couldn’t walk to the bathroom. His pounding heart strained his rib cage as waves of euphoria and anxiety washed over him.”
Dude was too frightened to call for help. He clung to his bed, guzzling water. Two hours later, the severe symptoms faded away but it took a full day for him to feel normal again. Later, he found out that the correct dosage would have been one gummy bear.
If these two media folks had these experiences themselves or through someone close to them, then I would imagine there would be plenty of other people having experiences that are not making the news.
Two other such stories, far more tragic, did make the news. One involved an African student attending college in the US who ate a THC-infused cookie he purchased in Denver, became violent and delusional and died after leaping off a balcony. In the other story that hit the news shortly after Colorado started legal recreational sales was that of the father of three who became hallucinatory after consuming edibles and fatally shot his wife.
What is usually mentioned along with these tales is that an increasing number of small children are arriving at emergency rooms of hospitals after picking up someone’s THC-candy bar or cookie and overdosing on the drug. More calls to Poison Control Centers involve the same kind of problem.
Edibles in Colorado present a very specific threat to the citizens of that state, young and old. Just these four stories show the harm that is possible from these poorly-controlled THC products.
A casual, unmonitored, uncontrolled and unprofessional industry that distributes intoxicating substances is going to put people at risk. Hopefully, it won’t take long for correct controls to be implemented in Colorado and Washington, which puts marijuana on retail sale next month. I really don’t want to see more people terrified by hours-long panic attacks or hear about them losing everything like the young student and the father did.
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