Her hashish-infused fudge -- a mélange of fruit, nuts, spices and
cannabis -- was the rage of expatriate Paris in the 1950s, and her
recipe for psychedelic brownies were the subject of a 1968 cult Peter
Sellers film, "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas."
Now, in Colorado, where recreational use of marijuana took effect this
year, consumers can choose from sodas, candies and even THC-laden beef
jerky to get their Rocky Mountain high.
Purveyors like Dixie Elixirs
offer everything from chai mints to chocolate truffles and elixirs in
flavors such as Old Fashioned Sarsaparilla to Sparkling Pomegranate, and
retailers say they edibles are flying off shelves.
But the state is only beginning to get up to speed regulating these
cannabis edibles, and experts say there will be new challenges arising
every day. For a start, the state cannot rely on either the
investigative expertise of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention or the regulatory know-how of the Food and Drug
Administration – marijuana is illegal at the federal level.
"There are going to be hundreds of questions on the legal and health
side that no one was able to foresee when the voters pulled the lever,"
said Paul Doering,
professor of pharmacy practice and co-director of the Drug Information
and Pharmacy Resource Center at the University of Florida.
"I am very focused on product quality and the steps taken by the
manufacturers of pharmaceutical drugs are so extreme and complex that
the average consumer can have reasonable certainty that when they take
325 milligrams of aspirin, their tablet contains 325 milligrams," said
Doering.
Voters approved Amendment 64 in December 2012, which made it legal for
anyone over the age of 21 to use or possess up to an ounce of marijuana
for any purpose.
"Colorado is learning the hard way that there is a lot more to do when
have pledged to the citizenry to have a highly regulated marijuana
industry," said Doering. "It's an oxymoron almost right from the start."
Edibles stand to be big business in Colorado since licensed marijuana
retail stores opened Jan. 1, but how will consumers know these products
are safe?
The Colorado Department of Public Health has not been involved in
regulation, because part of its budget is federally funded. So the
Marijuana Enforcement Division of the Department of Revenue is overseeing regulation of the entire industry.
"We had four months to get all these regulations together," said Daria
Serna, a spokesman for the Department of Revenue. "The legislation was
passed and we had a tight timeline."
"We rely on experts," she told ABCNews.com. "The governor signed an
executive order to create a task force and it was clear, he wanted
everyone at the table -- elected officials, people from the medical
marijuana industry ... educators and scientists. We are all working
together."
According to a fact sheet from Denver Public Health,
there are no recorded cases of overdose deaths from marijuana, but it
says it can cause accidents and medical problems that can lead to death.
Joe Hodas, chief marketing officer for Dixie Elixirs and Edibles, said
his company is building a new 30,000-square-foot manufacturing facility
and warehouse to keep up with the appetite for marijuana food products.
"Demand's been huge," Hodas told ABC News' Denver affiliate KMGH-TV.
"And our employees have been just killing it working 'round the clock."
These edibles are prepared like any other food, but cannabis oil is
added to the recipe. They are designed for those who do not like the
coughing and choking of inhaling pot smoke or who are looking for a
discrete way to get high in places where smoking is not allowed.
The cannabis plant contains 500 different chemicals, 66 of which are
cannabinoids and have an intoxicating effect, according to Doering. The
chief psychoactive substance is tetrahydrocannabinol or THC.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
because THC's behavioral effects are "unique," it cannot be classified
as a stimulant, sedative, tranquilizer or hallucinogen. "Recreational
doses are highly variable and users often titer their own dose."
The state requires child-proof packaging that requires a serving size
contain no more than 10 milligrams of THC, the active ingredient in
marijuana. By comparison, a 26 mg per dose would be prescribed medically
for nausea, not to exceed six doses of this size per day.
Labeling also states that the edible product, unlike smoking marijuana, has a "delayed effect."
And therein lies the problem with oral consumption of marijuana,
according to Doering -- the dosages can be inconsistent because of the
variety of products with variable compositions.
The chemicals in marijuana are also not very stable, he said, particularly in food.
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