Legalized marijuana made Colorado resort town new pot Mecca…for the homeless!
Rates of teen marijuana-related hospitalizations are up, and pets may be increasingly exposed to pot-laced food items.
The last time we checked in on Colorado after it legalized marijuana, the intoxicant was raking in $1.3 billion worth of sales for the state.
Yet, as predicted, there have been some unintended consequences of decriminalizing recreational marijuana use. Recently, the residents of Durango have noticed a change in the type of visitors the lovely Colorado resort town attracts.
The town suddenly became a haven for recreational pot users, drawing in transients, panhandlers and a large number of homeless drug addicts, according to officials and business owners. Many are coming from New Mexico, Arizona and even New York.
“Legalized marijuana has drawn a lot of kids here from other states and the impact has not all been good,” said [Durnago resident Matthew] Marinseck, 58, while holding a cardboard sign asking for “help.”
…Caleb Preston, a store manager in a gift shop and a former “street entertainer,” said the homeless and panhandling issue in Durango has gotten out of hand since the state legalized marijuana.
“Just this year there has been a major influx of people between 20 to 30 who are just hanging out on the streets,” Preston said. “The problem is while many are pretty mellow, there are many more who are violent.”
That isn’t the only significant health and safety issue that as arisen, either. A new study by a Children’s Hospital doctor reveals that the number of teenagers and young adults going to the emergency room for marijuana-related reasons increased significantly after legalization.
[Dr. Sam] Wang said he found that 106 teens and young adults visited Children’s emergency room for marijuana-related reasons in 2005 and that number jumped to 631 in 2014. The rate of those visits increased as well — although by 2015 marijuana still accounted for only four out of every 1,000 visits.
Perhaps most worrisome, Wang said he found that the number of kids and young adults in the emergency room for marijuana-related reasons and who subsequently needed a psychiatric evaluation also increased rapidly — from 65 in 2005 to 442 in 2014. Wang said patients who receive psychiatric evaluations may be severely intoxicated or may have tried to commit suicide or talked about committing suicide.
As if this wasn’t bad enough, pets may be at an increased risk of being poisoned by pot via food items.
Patty Moore called the veterinarian after her Golden Retriever, Chance, started acting strange, she told CNN affiliate KCNC.
Moore said the 10-year-old dog couldn’t stand to eat. “It was like her legs didn’t work at all,” she said.Chance’s vet diagnosed the dog as having ingested marijuana. The telltale signs: the animal appeared depressed, drunk or stupefied for no apparent reason.
The pet owner said she took Chance on a walk in Denver’s Highlands neighborhood park a few days after the 4/20 pro-marijuana rally, according to the affiliate report.
That’s where Moore believes Chance got into the pot — probably eating or licking a THC-laced edible, like a cookie or brownie.
So, if you find yourself in a state that is voting for recreational marijuana legalization, consider the unintended consequences on business, children, and pets before proceeding.
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Comments
Liberty can be messy at times. Particularly when confined to one small area. It’ll calm down.
We tolerate alcohol, and thousands of innocent people die every year as a result.
But yes, the problems should not be covered up.
I agree. Cover the problems. However I find the idea of a left behind marijuana infused cookie or brownie to be unlikely. Marijuana is still valuable and scarce. Liquor is common and not all that valuable. I have on occasion found an 8th of a beer can here and there over years of living.
As for brownie ingestion by a dog or any sort would not the dog have other symptoms as brownies have chocolate which is a poison for dogs?
I’ve seen two dogs come close to death after eating chocolate.
Booze does not change a person’s psychology. Marijuana does – profoundly.
Ever try discussing a complicated issue (not political) with someone who smokes dope regularly? Now try a political discussion. Their minds are on another plane, it that plane ain’t in reality.
The legalization of pot is the final nail in the coffin of our Republic. No surprise that leftists so virulently support it.
“Marijuana: The brain changer”
http://www.apa.org/research/action/speaking-of-psychology/marijuana-brain.aspx
Hmmm…
Comey says that intent is what matters. Thus, unintended consequences do not matter do they? OK, maybe they do matter if you live outside of D.C. Who knew?
Hmm, now where did I hide my “shocked face”?! The stuff is called “dope” for a reason. And no, it does not enhance your driving ability!
Just another benefit of wonderful progressive leadership !
https://durangoherald.com/articles/159260-fox-news-story-draws-ire-from-durangoans
Witless, lying prohibitionists! People aren’t being “hospitalized” when they visit an ER, and while going there to be told one has consumed too much cannabis is an unnecessary expense and undesirable, it is the grossest misrepresentation to suggest that more kids showing up in ERs is any kind of public health threat! Children are injured and killed on a daily basis by real poisons whereas no moratality or morbidity can be attributed to the use of cannabis. The prohibitionists are pushing the bogus claim that cannabis is associated with homelessness hard despite zero evidence that cannabis is in any way causative; it is enough for the propagandists that homeless people enjoy cannabis as much as wealthy property owners!
Thank you, Comrade.
I don’t have a problem with marijuana, except minors are too young for this.
Just enforce the loitering laws or whatever. Don’t let them homeless on Coloradans dime. That’s always the rub; when you start making other people pay.
One of my biggest problems with Marijuana and kids is that during puberty kids are beginning learn how to handle problems, both social and technical and ethical. It is a very uncomfortable time for them and using dope (or alcohol) hinders their ability to develop the skills they are going to need as adults. Sort of like putting them on crutches during puberty and expecting them to walk well as a full adult.
This country spends billions of dollars every year dealing with the problems caused by the use of alcohol. BILLIONS. We are forced to do this because a significant number of people feel the need for a depressant for recreational purposes. Fine. So we deal with all of the unwanted fallout. We mourn our innocent dead. We suffer damages caused by others using alcohol. We deal with overdoses and societal dropout [homelessness]. We run PSAa warning against the use, especially the overuse, of alcohol. Then we turn right around and legalize recreational marijuana use as though it was some magic substance which has no negative effects. And, when it does cause these effects, and they are quantified, the potheads come out defending its use. The whole basis of their defense is simply that they WANT to use it. Under that criteria we should legalize ALL drugs. Every single one of them. Opioid addiction crisis? Don’t worry about it, just throw more public money at it. Cocaine addiction, meth addiction, uppers, downers, peyote, overdoses, traffic fatalities, accidental death and injury? Fagiddaboutit. If people want to use these substances, let them. We’ll just throw more money at the problems they cause and bury our loved ones.
The cannabis experiment has been ongoing, in other parts of the world for decades and has proven to be a failure. Legalized cannabis use is simply more trouble, for society, than it is worth. Amsterdam was the drug Mecca of the world, and especially Europe, for decades. Guess what? Not anymore. The liberal drug enforcement policies of the Netherlands led to a lot of problems. Violence, accidental injury, overdose, etc. It simply became too expensive and disruptive to continue. In many locations so-called cannabis cafes have been forcibly closed by the governments. Those that remain in operation are mostly run as private clubs with a membership restricted to 1000-1500 persons, all of whom have to be citizens of the Netherlands. Drug tourism is now a thing of the past. Also, the smuggling of illicit [hard] drugs has increased in the Netherlands. Cannabis has long been considered a gateway drug and it still is, at least in the Netherlands.
But, blinded by money, various governments in the US have chosen to ignore the lessons of history and now they will have to deal with the same problems that other places have had to deal with, when cannabis is legalized. And, as long as alcohol is legal, what need is there to legalize cannabis?
“…But, blinded by money, various governments in the US have chosen to ignore the lessons of history…”
You are ignoring the role of leftists/’progressives’/useful idiots within our country seeking to destroy the Republic.
They know the lessons of history (at least their handlers) more than you know – they know, for example, how opium brought about the downfall Imperial China:
http://www.historywiz.com/downfall.htm
Pot will do the same to America.
Booze hasn’t, and won’t, because people don’t change on booze – they just get louder:
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2017/05/17/People-dont-change-on-the-booze-they-just-get-louder
While the Liberal Progressives do push the legalization of marijuana, their activities are not the root cause for the legalization efforts. It is economics. Simply follow the money. Every single proponent of legalizing cannabis advocates taxing its sale in the next breath. And, dollar signs are what the politicians see.
What they do not see are the money draining, negative consequences of legalizing cannabis. In the first place, there is NO reason to legalize recreational use of cannabis. None. The medical uses may exist, but there are no reliable testings done on any purported medical advantages to cannabis. And, people who smoke or ingest cannabis for medical problems have absolutely NO idea which active ingredient in the plant is “helping” them or how much of it they are ingesting. That is all a boondoggle.
Cannabis use is not going to destroy this country. It will reduce the standard of living, but it won’t destroy it. On the other hand, the is no good reason to legalize its use. The only reason to legalize it is because some people want it legalized for their own selfish reasons.
rename pot to peyote and call everyone native american church members.
problem solved.
FineReport, I had a profound insight last night. Recalling that marijuana is now legal in Washington, DC, I asked myself: how many WashPo “reporters” go to work high/wrecked/stoned everyday? Wouldn’t it be fascinating if some brave soul were to “leak” that information?
Good. I hope they drown in their urine and feces.
May they reap what they sow.