Reefer Mad in Aspen

From a Letter to the Editor at the Aspen Times:

As the medical marijuana articles continue to appear in newsprint, I think two points need to be made:

One, a warning to all recreational and medical marijuana smokers: Eagle County Sheriff’s office and State Highway Patrol have trained officers to look for not only DWI alcohol drivers but also DUI marijuana users. The THC chemical making up 60% of each marijuana plant (recreational or medical marijuana) is 10 times stronger since the 1970s per the June 2009 United Nations World Health Report.

Where do I get me some of that 60% THC pot?  Most good bud is around 7%-10% THC with exceptions found as high as 35%.  Even seized hash has been averaging only around 20% THC.  Plus, high-quality pot has always been available, even in the 1970s.  I mean, look at the hairstyles and the clothes; do you think those people were smoking weak marijuana?

THC can stay in your blood for up to 56 days. Guess what that means?

No, THC metabolites can stay in your urine up to 56 (more or less) days.  Guess what that means?

If a cop thinks you’re drug impaired or asks you to take a drug test and you test positive for marijuana, the current state and federal laws say that is a crime.

Yes, they do.  What they don’t say is that you’re impaired.  They say you’re guilty of the crime of driving while impaired, but they do not actually serve to prove any impairment.

Remember if you have an accident and your brain has slowed down due to marijuana use — you are on the way to court and possibly jail.

Brain is slowed down?  Name the game, mister, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Boggle, Scrabble, logic problems, New York Times crossword, and I’ll give you a good run for your money even while pulling bong rips off a Roor.

Two, recreational or medical marijuana is grown by unregulated medical warehouses in America or in Mexico that have no oversight, quality control, testing, or inspection by the FDA or any other state or U.S. government agency. So to anyone smoking, inhaling, eating brownies, etc., the THC goes to your blood and directly to your brain.

Yes, the THC goes to the blood and the brain; as our president once remarked, that’s the point.

Why would our citizens use a product that has no testing or quality control and could be poisoned?

Well, many of our citizens are growing it themselves or know their grower and know it isn’t being poisoned.  Last time I recall anyone being poisoned by weed, it was the US government spraying Mexican marijuana fields with toxic paraquat in the 1970s.

But there is a point that unregulated marijuana can have molds, fungi, or pesticides, which is exactly why we’re lobbying for legalization.

There are 400 different chemicals in each marijuana plant. Marijuana smokers are actually “rolling the dice” each time they use it. I wonder where the new store owners buy their marijuana and who guarantees its purity for you to use safely.

Eek!  Chemicals!  Over 400 of them!  Uh, just like nearly every plant on earth.