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Christopher Ingraham writes in the Washington Post that many countries are taking a close look at what's happening in Colorado and Washington state to learn lessons that can be applied to their own situations and so far, the news coming out of Colorado and Washington is overwhelmingly positive. Dire consequences predicted by reform opponents have failed to materialize. If anything, societal and economic indicators are moving in a positive direction post-legalization. Colorado marijuana tax revenues for fiscal year 2014-2015 are on track to surpass projections.
Lisa Sanchez, a program manager at México Unido Contra la Delincuencia, a Mexican non-profit devoted to promoting "security, legality and justice", underscored how legalization efforts in the U.S. are having powerful ripple effects across the globe: events in Colorado and Washington have "created political space for Latin American countries to have a real debate [about drug policy]". She noted that motivations for reform in Latin America are somewhat different than U.S. motivations - one main driver is a need to address the epidemic of violence on those countries that is fuelled directly by prohibitionist drug war policies. Mexico's president has given signs he's open to changes in that country's marijuana laws to help combat cartel violence. Sandeep Chawla, former deputy director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, notes that one of the main obstacles to meaningful reform is layers of entrenched drug control bureaucracies at the international and national levels - just in the U.S., think of the DEA, ONDCP and NIDA, among others - for whom a relaxation of drug control laws represents an undermining of their reason for existence: "if you create a bureaucracy to solve a particular problem, when the problem is solved that bureaucracy is out of a job".
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Tuesday October 21 2014, @07:18AM
Still, in Colorado, they have had problems with edibles, mostly because there is no standards for dosage or marking.
In Colorado Sales of infused edibles make up about 45 percent of the legal marijuana marketplace, and have accounted for nearly 100% of all hospital admissions related to marijuana use in the state.
Yet, as far as I know there has't been a single auto accident that could definitively be blamed on pot [washingtonpost.com] in the state.
You can't find an alcoholic drink without it being labeled as to alcohol content. There probably needs to be developed some sort of content markings for edibles.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday October 21 2014, @10:38AM
It seems your FDA are not in control of either the food or the drugs designated suitable for human consumption.
(Score: 2) by fadrian on Tuesday October 21 2014, @02:50PM
Uhmm. All manufactured edibles (at least here in Oregon) have strengths notated on the package - they are hard to miss. And, in fact, most of the manufacturers are going to even more medicinal-like packaging to make sure that folks can tell the difference (it is a medical market here, though, not a retail one - YMMV, depending on state). I guess there might be folks making homemade stuff that isn't marked and little Suzie could take the wrong tray of cookies to school. Even so, her classmates aren't likely to be physically harmed by ingesting them, unless they fall off a slide during recess or something.
That is all.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday October 21 2014, @08:34PM
Oregon doesn't have a recreational marijuana law, so they have to pretend its medicine.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by fadrian on Wednesday October 22 2014, @01:27PM
Well, yes. Until the coming election and when they get the control system set up. Just time. Until then, there is medical.
It's not like half the state can't nip over the river to Washington any time they want anyway (although the supply problems they're having up there makes the medical card here in Oregon a much better deal, where Cannabis is about 30% less expensive).
That is all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 21 2014, @03:27PM
Edibles in Colorado, bought from the store, are clearly marked with THC/CBD content.