Cannabis-caused visits to ER on the rise

TELLURIDE – Cannabis shops opened for business Jan. 1 in Telluride, and the town has had few problems, reports The Telluride Watch. People aren’t sitting on street corners toking up, at least not more than before. Some people are driving stoned, but again, how much more is unclear.

But still, there’s a difference now that marijuana is legal.

“In my first 10 years of work in emergency departments, I did not see one case of a patient who took too much marijuana to the point that it resulted in an emergency department visit,” says Daniel Hehir, a physician. “Now it is a frequent occurrence.”

A similar report comes from Emil Sante, who is the Telluride chief paramedic. “We’re getting four or five pot calls a week from people who have over-indulged unknowingly or who are unfamiliar with smoking or eating marijuana.”

Those patients typically exhibit symptoms of panic attacks and severe anxiety, but he says this does not pose a significant threat to public health.

“It could be that some people who already have anxiety issues can cascade into other issues,” he said. “But they’re not serious medical issues.”

What about dogs? Allison Branson, a veterinarian, reported formerly treating two or three animals a year for marijuana-consumption ailments. This year, she has seen six.

“Dogs will eat the pot plants, but they also really like the edibles, and they don’t need to eat a lot to have a problem.”

She tells The Watch that dogs typically look like they’re drunk. “They have an intention tremor, where their heads bob a bit. They also sometimes exhibit what’s called a truncal ataxia, where if you looked at them from the top, it almost looks like they’re making a wave motion with their body.”

But animals can die from ingesting cannabis, she says.

Of the six cases she’s seen this year, two of the dogs ate marijuana edibles off the street. But because dogs that consume antifreeze have similar symptoms, she said it’s difficult to identify marijuana as the culprit.

Given that Telluride Bluegrass and other festivals are coming, town officials are working with pot shops on developing public education and awareness.

Dr. Hehir cautions that there is very poor standardization in the industry, “so be careful.”

In Denver, there is also concern about ingesting edible marijuana. In one case, a college student from Wyoming fell to his death after ingesting great amounts of THC-infused brownies. In another, a man shot his wife. It’s not clear that either death can be directly linked to marijuana, however.

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Driving-while-stoned laws still muddled

STEAMBOAT – Colorado’s legalization of marijuana presented state lawmakers last year with the question of what constitutes driving while stoned.

Unlike ingestion of alcohol, the law isn’t completely hard and fast, reports the Steamboat Today. The state law says that it’s a misdemeanor for any person to drive a motor vehicle when the person’s blood-alcohol level is 0.08 or more while driving or within two hours after driving.

Blood tests can pick out traces of THC, the psychoactive agent in cannabis. In two cases in Routt County, however, jurors did not find the defendants guilty of violating the law.

In one case, a driver had been stopped for speeding 5 mph over the speed limit. He conceded smoking, and the blood test showed 5.5 nanograms of THC in his blood. But the jury only found him guilty of speeding, not of violating the drug law.

In a second case, a driver was stopped because of a cracked windshield. This time, the driver consented to a blood test, which revealed 13 nanograms of THC, the psychoactive agent in cannabis. But again, the jury did not find him guilty of violating the drug law, only of having a cracked windshield.

Attorney Adam Mayo, who represented one of the two drivers, told the Today that he would not be surprised if Colorado lawmakers eventually make the marijuana nanogram law more parallel to the law governing alcohol. Until then, he said, he believes juries will continue to look at the overall evidence in the cases rather than focus on just the blood test and nanogram levels.

“It’s an inexact science, and there was some concern that this line we draw in the sand was going to be arbitrary,” he said.

Brett Barkey, the Routt County district attorney, told the newspaper that it will take time for the public to understand the specific indicators and dangers of driving while stoned.

“Blood alcohol levels have been discussed widely for decades while many have never heard of ‘nanogram’ levels that are used to measure marijuana consumption,” he said. Similarly, indications of drug intoxication, including marijuana, can be more subtle and require specialized training to investigate, “whereas the stereotype of a stumbling drunk has a long and broadly understood cultural history,” he said.

The newspaper also noted that all the jurors indicated they had either been under the influence of marijuana at some time in their lives or had been in the presence of somebody they believed was under the influence.

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Reminiscing about gold days in Aspen

ASPEN – Former Aspen Mayor Mick Ireland has a column in which he asks how many Aspenites it takes to change a light bulb.

The answer: 10. “One to do the work and nine to reminisce about how great the old one was.”

Ireland, a former journalist, scolds the local media for not demanding more transparency in governance of the local hospital. He also comments on an issue involving the community art gallery.

But he frames this in references that resonate in many ski towns.

“Personally, I can think of worse things that Aspen has survived,” he writes. “First on the list is the transition from a marijuana to a cocaine culture in the late ’70s. Cocaine is much more malicious and conducive of greed, selfishness and violence. Not a whole lot of domestic violence incidents involve marijuana.

“Second would be the Tax Reform Act of 1986 that made luxury residential the preferred speculative real estate play for the newly empowered, more lightly taxed 1 percent, undermining our lodging and tourism base (bye bye, Mountain House Lodge), and sucking the vitality out of the West End and other neighborhoods where a majority of single-family homes are now second homes.”

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Shoppers will have to pay a dime a bag

TRUCKEE, Calif. – Come June, it will cost shoppers in Truckee a thin dime every time they need a bag. That bag won’t be a disposable plastic one. A paper bag, yes. Or even a sturdy reusable bag. But not a plastic bag.

Like several ski towns in Colorado and roughly 100 towns in California, Truckee’s council in November voted to put the kibosh on plastic bags.

Moonshine Ink reports that while most business owners seem to go along with the ban, some resent being told what to do.

This is despite the fact that the businesses get to keep the money they collect for the paper sacks.

“I totally understand and am in favor of reducing pollution, but forcing businesses to charge for a bag is taking away our independence as business owners,” said one unidentified business owner.

The bag fee was initiated by local high school students, some of whom are now in college. They contacted similar towns in California and Colorado that have banned plastic bags.

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What if ski areas won’t be in business?

PARK CITY, Utah – Although it’s considered a low probability, town officials in Park City are planning for the idea that Park City Mountain Resort won’t be operating next year. Or, perhaps, lift tickets won’t be sold in the town because of a new access outside the town.

If this were to happen, the city government would take a major financial hit. Diane Foster, the town manager, tells The Park Record that the city does similar contingency planning for recessions.

The reason for these plan B’s and C’s is the lawsuit between Park City Mountain Resort and Talisker, the owner of the land. Vail Resorts now represents Talisker in the legal dueling and has threatened to eject Park City Mountain Resort from the property.

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Keystone and other oil pipelines in news

PARK CITY, Utah – Getting oil from the field to refineries has become a big story in the last few years. There’s the issue, of course, about whether the bitumen from the oil/tar sands of northern Alberta will get to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico, and also the issue of crude oil being shipped in railroad cars through ski towns.

In Utah’s Summit County, the issue is how oil gets from the Uintah Basin to a refinery in North Lake Tahoe. The Park Record explains that 100 trucks daily pass by Park City on a local highway, but Tesoro Corp. wants to install a pipeline.

A local water conservancy district is questioning the safety of an oil pipeline in proximity to water sources. Given recent oil pipeline spills, including a 20,000-barrel mess from a pipeline by this same company in North Dakota, it’s a “reasonable concern,” says the newspaper.

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Landslide in Jackson continues in slow-mo

JACKSON, Wyo. – The big butte in Jackson continues to slough. A week ago, the slow slide of earth on East Gros Ventre Butte concerned town officials enough that they allocated $700,000 toward emergency measures. Then, early Friday, it lurched enough to break a house on the hill. This, after rocks had started tumbling down the slope and the parking lot at the base had started to buckle.

On Tuesday morning, the Jackson Hole News&Guide reported that city officials began piling rubble in a parking lot at the toe of the landmass.

“In addition to serving as a counterbalancing weight, the compacted dirt is supposed to help re-establish and protect a route to the neighborhood on the butte,” explains the News&Guide.

The road is impassable because it has cracked and buckled so badly. The work comes as the relatively slow-moving slide, which had been speeding up, appears to be losing momentum, at least for now.

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Crested Butte to ban guns in 13 locations

CRESTED BUTTE – The law being what it is, Crested Butte decided it had to specify those places where guns aren’t allowed and put up signs at those places.

There wasn’t unanimity, reports the Crested Butte News. One audience member was adamant that guns should be allowed everywhere. “Guns save more lives than the harm caused by the guns,” said John Wirsing, a former councilman. “People carry guns to protect themselves, and it actually reduces crime.”

Other council members disagreed, but where to put up signs? In the end, they decided that 13 places needed to have signs specifically banning guns.

Among those who thought the town over-reacted was Mayor Aaron Huckstep. “We’ve all said we don’t want to put signs up all over town, but we’ve just put signs up all over town.”

 

– Allen Best
More Mountain Town News can be found at mountaintownnews.net