![](\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/thc-extracts-300x150.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cHere comes the Whole Foods-\u2028ification of Marijuana,\u201d states the headline for a story published by Fast Company, a news organization founded by former editors of Harvard Business Review, touting its focus on \u201cethical economics.\u201d . The report describes the author\u2019s experience with ordering front-door delivery of a jar of \u201corganic, sun-grown marijuana from farmers Casey and Amber in Mendocino, Calif.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a whole industry being built around the upscale branding of weed,\u201d author Ariel Schwartz explains. \u201cMarijuana is now something that should be organic, grown by friendly farmers…\u201d<\/p>\n
For marijuana sellers, edibles mean a potentially boundless market share. \u201cEdibles are the future of the industry due to their familiarity,\u201d explains an article on a website that markets \u201cThe Stoner\u2019s Cookbook.\u201d \u201cNon-smokers are not inclined to medicate with a joint, but an infused cookie is something familiar that they\u2019re comfortable ingesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, THC-infused foods and drinks \u2014 all fashioned from marijuana the state doesn\u2019t yet test for contaminants \u2014 are sold in hundreds of store-front establishments throughout the state. They are shared and traded on the campuses of middle schools and high schools, where young users with developing brains are especially susceptible to addiction. They are stowed in lunch boxes in the workplace.<\/p>\n
Employers, law enforcement officials, educators and addiction treatment providers say Colorado has cooked up a poorly regulated THC-food fiasco that crisscrosses the country with the ease of exporting gummy bears in glove compartments, pockets and handbags. For taxpayers, the growing edibles market means an array of social costs \u2014 including hospitalizations, traffic accidents, school dropouts and lost work productivity \u2014 that state and federal officials haven\u2019t fully investigated, estimated and made public.<\/p>\n
Known as hash oil, wax, dabs, and shatter, concentrates deliver a high so fast and intense many users refer to them as \u201cgreen crack.\u201d One ounce of the highest potency THC concentrate can yield 560 average tokes on an electronic cigarette. In edibles, Colorado law defines an average serving of THC as 10 milligrams.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat average serving size? That\u2019s a political number, not anything rooted in real, reputable science,\u201d said Kevin Sabet, a former senior White House drug policy advisoer and co-founder of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an organization opposed to marijuana legalization and supported by several of the country\u2019s top addiction treatment experts.<\/p>\n
The 10-milligram serving size established by Colorado lawmakers means one1 ounce of high-potency THC oil \u2014 the amount one adult is allowed to buy or possess at any given time \u2014 also can equal 2,800 average servings. That\u2019s a well-stocked bakery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t need scientific evidence to show me that students are completely zoned out and that more stoned kids are showing up for class,\u201d said Kelly Landen, a high school teacher in Denver. \u201cIf they\u2019ve smoked marijuana, you smell it on them. But students also show up with candy and cookies and whatever \u2026 and there\u2019s no way to know for certain what\u2019s in that food. They could be eating (THC) right in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unregulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, concentrated THC is practically undetectable. There is no pill. Unlike alcohol and cigarettes, there is no smell. Users can get high on food and beverages while hiding in plain sight in almost any location.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is great danger in how easy these food products are to conceal,\u201d said Frank Szachta, director of The Cornerstone Program, an adolescent addiction treatment center in Centennial. \u201cSomeone could do this drug in front of you, or in front of a teacher, in front of the boss. \u2026 No one would have to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colorado legislators have grappled with the problem of people \u2014 particularly children and adolescents \u2014 consuming marijuana in common snacks that land them in emergency rooms with panic attacks and hallucinations. Authorities have linked at least three deaths in Colorado, including a murder, to excessive consumption of THC-laced foods.<\/p>\n
When ingested through the stomach, the user may not experience effects for an hour or more. The delayed effect is blamed in part for new users becoming impatient and eating too much.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike a bottle of vodka, you can\u2019t just drink the entire bottle. You have to take it slow and understand what you\u2019re doing,\u201d said Julie Berliner in a YouTube video. She\u2019s the founder of Sweet Grass Kitchen, an edibles manufacturing company in Denver.<\/p>\n
But edibles are not like a bottle of vodka in important ways. The vodka\u2019s contents are exactly known, and drinks can be measured precisely. The label on a THC-infused brownie or candy bar might state \u201cservings per package: 10,\u201d but the maker can\u2019t say whether the consumer will ingest all of those servings in one small bite. The folly is akin to cutting a cupcake into tenths and presuming each piece contains exactly one serving of vanilla extract.<\/p>\n
Making matters worse, said Lewis of Insight Services, is that many people are not inclined to follow recommended serving sizes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state says a serving size is 10 milligrams, so that\u2019s how much THC you might find in one small piece of candy,\u201d she said. \u201cBut very few people sit down with a bag of candy and eat only one piece.\u201d<\/p>\n
State lawmakers\u2019 efforts to regulate edibles and their packaging have done little to stop accidental overdoses and deter underage use \u2014 in part because they haven\u2019t applied to homemade goods infused with THC, health professionals say. State law also is undermined when someone removes the contents of a package and stores the THC-infused food in a bowl, jar or other container.<\/p>\n
A law enacted in 2014 instructs the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment to devise standards and procedures that will make unpackaged, commercial food products easily stand out if they contain THC. It\u2019s a tall order when dealing with small pieces of food \u2014 such as crumbs of granola \u2014 and the agency continues to grasping for a solution.<\/p>\n
Since legalization and the mass marketing of highly potent, THC foods began, Colorado addiction treatment providers have reported increasing levels of toxicity among clients, more severe addiction and poorer prognoses for recovery from substance use disorders.<\/p>\n
For example, the average level of THC found in the urine of about 5,000 adolescents ages 13-19 by researchers at the University of Colorado jumped from 358 nanograms per milliliter in 2007 through 2009 \u2014 just before the state\u2019s boom in medical marijuana dispensaries \u2014 to 536 milliliters from 2010 through 2013.<\/p>\n
The rapidly widening scope of THC-infused food is shaping up to be a recipe for great losses for individuals, families and the entire state, Lewis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are coming to us later in the addiction cycle than they used to,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen people get high on food, there is the perception that they\u2019re not really using a drug. It seems less harmful than taking pills or smoking. By the time they realize there\u2019s a problem, some of them are quite a ways further into the addiction than if they had been smoking it.\u201d<\/p>\n