SF ESTABLISHES FIRST EDIBLE POT REGULATIONS

Rules could help avoid trips to the emergency room.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health has established some of
America's first pot brownie and even milkshake regulations in response
to the growing sector of the medical cannabis industry. Edible baked
goods, as well as ice cream, lollipops, chewing gum, and even olive
oil tinged with THC, have become a smash hit in California's
dispensaries. But such edibles can lead to frightening experiences and
even emergency room visits when they are accidentally ingested or
improperly prepared. Anecdotal stories and news headlines abound of
grandmas, children, and pets accidentally eating some unmarked baked
goods and experiencing cannabis' sometimes harrowing effects.

The city's new medical cannabis regulations call for labeling the
amount of marijuana on each individually marked, opaquely wrapped
cookie or rice krispie treat, and keeping pets and children out of any
kitchen where they're being made. No treats should resemble any type
of candy. And no dispensary can make hot or cold foods like milkshakes
or ice cream without a special permit from the Public Health
Department, which has designed coursework and an exam for permitees.

San Francisco's Green Cross delivery dispensary operator Kevin Reed
has implemented the guidelines and says they're necessary to prevent
accidental exposure to the psychoactive herb. "There are a million
different advantages to edible products, but then you have people who
turn around and put Snickers labels on it, and an average kid can't
tell the different between a Snickers bar and a pot Snicker bars," he
said. "There's still this Wild West mentality."

Reed's grandmother accidentally got into a plate of pot cookies at his
apartment four years ago and demanded to see an emergency room doctor
when the effects came on. "The first one was good, so thirty to forty
minutes she had another. She wasn't from here and didn't have any
education. When I came in, she said she ate these two cookies and said
she was feeling kind of funny. Her blood pressure was up, her heart
was pumping. She got paranoid and asked to be taken to the emergency
room.

She even accused Reed of wanting to take her insurance money and
inheritance. "I would definitely recommend that patients consider
cookies just like their medication, like their Vicodin," he said. "It
should all be locked up. If it's not labeled, you don't want to be
that one explaining to Mom why her heart is beating that fast."

According to David Byrnes with California's Office of Statewide Health
Planning and Development, the state does not track cannabis-specific
emergency room visits so there's no way to quantify a rise related to
the billion-dollar state industry.

Regarding animals, however, local vets say accidental cannabis
ingestion is fairly common. Dr. Chris Johnson, doctor of veterinary
medicine and intern at San Francisco Veterinary Specialists, says
accidental ingestion isn't really an issue in Oklahoma, where he's
from. In San Francisco, however, pot trumps other common poisonings
like Tylenol, insecticides, antifreeze, and blood-pressure medication.
"Of the top five sources of poisoning, I would have to say certainly
marijuana is at the top," he said. "I would have to say chocolate is
at the top but those two go hand in hand."

Johnson said animals present symptoms of stress when they've been
dosed, but, as with humans, it's never killed anyone. Pot makes
animals uncomfortable, and the course of treatment involves fluids and
observation.

"Most of the time they're really jittery and they're kind of
hyperactive. They're very sensitive to different stimuli like noise
and light," he said. "We may or may not give things like Valium to
kind of help and just relax them."

A San Francisco resident and edible cannabis consumer who wished to
remain anonymous said he accidentally left out a plate of pot brownies
overnight and awoke in the early morning to his beloved dog vomiting
and staggering down the hallway. The experience was terrifying. "We
thought he was having stroke," he said.

Rushed to a veterinary ER, the canine presented low blood pressure,
high pulse, and was kept overnight, costing his owner a couple hundred
dollars. "He ended up being fine, but it was spooky."

David Goldman, a spokesperson for medical pot group Americans for Safe
Access, said the drug is rather harmless, but people should exercise
some basic common sense. "Most people after they come down from
brownies they feel fine, they're hungry and okay," he said. "I think
the real onus is on parents and guardians of children to cook and keep
edibles in a safe place. It's just common sense."

Even experienced users need to pay attention to dosage, Goldman added,
who also sits on San Francisco's Medical Cannabis Task Force. Back in
January, Kinman Chan, a thirty-year-old man from San Francisco,
claimed he was high on a double dose of medical pot cookies when he
screamed, dropped his pants, and attacked crew members on a
cross-country flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, forcing its
diversion to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Seeds & Stems

Last week the NAACP threw its unconditional support to what is now
Prop. 19, the Tax and Control Cannabis Act. ... Grammy Award-winning
musician Ziggy Marley is the author of new comic book Marijuanaman.
The first issue hits shelves April 20, 2011, and will be published by
Berkeley-based Image Comics. In the meantime, Marley will make an
appearance at Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 24.