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The city’s restaurateurs face a new problem: the random customer who is way too stoned.
A few months ago I got into a cab in Denver, and my driver asked where I was from. When I told him New York City, he asked if I wanted to go to a marijuana dispensary. Apparently, I was the first out-of-towner he’d met in a while who wasn’t looking for a good place to buy pot brownies and THC-laced gummy bears.
I’d come to Denver to check out the restaurant scene—where the effects of marijuana legalization are having an unexpected side effect. It’s not that chefs are ruining their short ribs by adding too much vanilla kush (that would be illegal unless the restaurant was licensed) or creating menus specifically for the munchies (though surely an enterprising place will do that soon). It’s that some guests pass out in the middle of dinner because they ingested too much THC beforehand. Chef Jennifer Jasinski, who just opened the seafood spot Stoic & Genuine in Union Station, has seen it happen at her flagship restaurant, Rioja. “Out of nowhere, someone’s head will go down on the table,” she says.
So what does Jasinski do? Kick customers out? Nudge them until they lift their heads out of their plates? It turns out she and her staff do what common sense tells them to: Give the person lots of liquids and try to make everyone else at the table feel less embarrassed; worst-case scenario, call an ambulance. “One time,” says Jasinski, “we asked if there was a doctor in the house. And there was.”
Are they stoned or drunk?
Unlike a rolling stone, you gather moss.Are they stoned or drunk?
but driving and buying it from some place other than a dispensary are still illegal right?....The real problem is that they are driving around. There were some before but now there are many more with state approval and pot makes you think you are smarter than you are. We have the same issue here, one good thing though, the greedy tax collectors aren't raking in the income like they thought they would because its' much cheaper to buy it illegally.
but driving and buying it from some place other than a dispensary are still illegal right?....The real problem is that they are driving around. There were some before but now there are many more with state approval and pot makes you think you are smarter than you are. We have the same issue here, one good thing though, the greedy tax collectors aren't raking in the income like they thought they would because its' much cheaper to buy it illegally.
So basically they are passing out right next to the people too drunk to stay awake.
Not here. There are pot shops now, quite a few on one stretch of road. I never see much going on in the way of business though, so maybe the tax is keeping them away. WA adds a LOT of tax to tobacco and alcohol, so they must have done the same to weed.but driving and buying it from some place other than a dispensary are still illegal right?....
but driving and buying it from some place other than a dispensary are still illegal right?....The real problem is that they are driving around. There were some before but now there are many more with state approval and pot makes you think you are smarter than you are. We have the same issue here, one good thing though, the greedy tax collectors aren't raking in the income like they thought they would because its' much cheaper to buy it illegally.
It is illegal to smoke and drive but they're finding it difficult to prove when a driver smoked most recently. Alcohol use can be determined with a certain amount of pinpoint accuracy but pot remains in fat cells and hair follicles for a long period of time so it's hard to know if someone smoked weed today or a week ago (speaking in terms of regular or chronic users).
but driving and buying it from some place other than a dispensary are still illegal right?....The real problem is that they are driving around. There were some before but now there are many more with state approval and pot makes you think you are smarter than you are. We have the same issue here, one good thing though, the greedy tax collectors aren't raking in the income like they thought they would because its' much cheaper to buy it illegally.
It is illegal to smoke and drive but they're finding it difficult to prove when a driver smoked most recently. Alcohol use can be determined with a certain amount of pinpoint accuracy but pot remains in fat cells and hair follicles for a long period of time so it's hard to know if someone smoked weed today or a week ago (speaking in terms of regular or chronic users).
Current Drug testing usually only looks for residuals, which cannot prove impairment. Your blood concentration of alcohol can be easily correlated to your breath concentration due to the volatility and ease of lung transfer of ethanol. THC is a far larger molecule, and I don't think a breath/blood concentration relation can be established.
A simple blood test is what is needed, as well as the empirical data to establish an "impaired" limit. I'm sure this research has been done, but the question is if it is mature enough to be made part of criminal law.
The real problem is that they are driving around. There were some before but now there are many more with state approval and pot makes you think you are smarter than you are. We have the same issue here, one good thing though, the greedy tax collectors aren't raking in the income like they thought they would because its' much cheaper to buy it illegally.
Not here. There are pot shops now, quite a few on one stretch of road. I never see much going on in the way of business though, so maybe the tax is keeping them away. WA adds a LOT of tax to tobacco and alcohol, so they must have done the same to weed.but driving and buying it from some place other than a dispensary are still illegal right?....
but driving and buying it from some place other than a dispensary are still illegal right?....The real problem is that they are driving around. There were some before but now there are many more with state approval and pot makes you think you are smarter than you are. We have the same issue here, one good thing though, the greedy tax collectors aren't raking in the income like they thought they would because its' much cheaper to buy it illegally.
It is illegal to smoke and drive but they're finding it difficult to prove when a driver smoked most recently. Alcohol use can be determined with a certain amount of pinpoint accuracy but pot remains in fat cells and hair follicles for a long period of time so it's hard to know if someone smoked weed today or a week ago (speaking in terms of regular or chronic users).
Current Drug testing usually only looks for residuals, which cannot prove impairment. Your blood concentration of alcohol can be easily correlated to your breath concentration due to the volatility and ease of lung transfer of ethanol. THC is a far larger molecule, and I don't think a breath/blood concentration relation can be established.
A simple blood test is what is needed, as well as the empirical data to establish an "impaired" limit. I'm sure this research has been done, but the question is if it is mature enough to be made part of criminal law.
I sell various products to a few marijuana growing facilities in the Denver area. The owners or employees often come into my retail operation too stoned to carry on an intelligent conversation. I feel like I'm speaking with Kindergarteners (sorry Kindergartners ... no offense). I have to keep my questions simple and short. If two stoned numbskulls come in at the same time I enjoy listening to them attempting to communicate with one another. They often break out laughing at the most insignificant, idiotic things.
but driving and buying it from some place other than a dispensary are still illegal right?....The real problem is that they are driving around. There were some before but now there are many more with state approval and pot makes you think you are smarter than you are. We have the same issue here, one good thing though, the greedy tax collectors aren't raking in the income like they thought they would because its' much cheaper to buy it illegally.
It is illegal to smoke and drive but they're finding it difficult to prove when a driver smoked most recently. Alcohol use can be determined with a certain amount of pinpoint accuracy but pot remains in fat cells and hair follicles for a long period of time so it's hard to know if someone smoked weed today or a week ago (speaking in terms of regular or chronic users).
Current Drug testing usually only looks for residuals, which cannot prove impairment. Your blood concentration of alcohol can be easily correlated to your breath concentration due to the volatility and ease of lung transfer of ethanol. THC is a far larger molecule, and I don't think a breath/blood concentration relation can be established.
A simple blood test is what is needed, as well as the empirical data to establish an "impaired" limit. I'm sure this research has been done, but the question is if it is mature enough to be made part of criminal law.
A blood test doesn't measure impairment. To date, there is no test that can measure the impairment of an individual under the influence of THC. The only effective counter to this is show of actual impairment (like swerving, driving too slow/fast) and then following that up with a field test.
Once the states do test like they do for alcohol, it will be based ff some completely arbitrary ruling on levels - intoxicated. That part is for sure.
but driving and buying it from some place other than a dispensary are still illegal right?....The real problem is that they are driving around. There were some before but now there are many more with state approval and pot makes you think you are smarter than you are. We have the same issue here, one good thing though, the greedy tax collectors aren't raking in the income like they thought they would because its' much cheaper to buy it illegally.
It is illegal to smoke and drive but they're finding it difficult to prove when a driver smoked most recently. Alcohol use can be determined with a certain amount of pinpoint accuracy but pot remains in fat cells and hair follicles for a long period of time so it's hard to know if someone smoked weed today or a week ago (speaking in terms of regular or chronic users).
Current Drug testing usually only looks for residuals, which cannot prove impairment. Your blood concentration of alcohol can be easily correlated to your breath concentration due to the volatility and ease of lung transfer of ethanol. THC is a far larger molecule, and I don't think a breath/blood concentration relation can be established.
A simple blood test is what is needed, as well as the empirical data to establish an "impaired" limit. I'm sure this research has been done, but the question is if it is mature enough to be made part of criminal law.
Agreed! I'm not too sure if there will be an inexpensive way to cover the costs of such tests. There's also the issue of regular users vs. sporadic users. A regular user will store up THC molecules over a period of days, weeks, and months. He could take one hit off of a joint whereas a sporadic user could smoke an entire joint. A resulting test of both individuals might make it appear that the regular user smoked more weed than the sporadic user.
Not here. There are pot shops now, quite a few on one stretch of road. I never see much going on in the way of business though, so maybe the tax is keeping them away. WA adds a LOT of tax to tobacco and alcohol, so they must have done the same to weed.but driving and buying it from some place other than a dispensary are still illegal right?....
I used to smoke weed and if I still did, I would buy it from the pot shop. Everyone I know who smokes weed buys it from a pot shop because it's much more convenient and it's cheaper now that it's legal and competition is a factor.
Before it was legal, pot wasn't nearly as available - dealers were notoriously unreliable and one had to know a dealer (obviously they couldn't advertise or market themselves openly).
Pot dealers are largely a thing of the past now. Oh, I'm sure there are a few still out there, but most of them have gone into the farming business. They can make an honest living now without hiding from the law, and it's extremely profitable. And there were those who dealt pot on the side so they wouldn't have to search for a small time supplier and/or smoke for free. Now they can just pop on down to the store where there many choices in strains and products, from edibles to specialty items.
If you think the black market for marihuana is doing well, you don't know what you're talking about because there no longer is a black market for it here.
