Pot legalization means pot commercialization. Pot commercialization means advertising to, and drawing in, novice users.
More users, new users, are all part of the marijuana industry’s plan. Full legalization, such as Colorado’s, doesn’t work without commercialization. Commercialization doesn’t work without bringing in new users to keep investors’ and owners’ profits up.
Novice users mean lots and lots of experiences like Maureen Dowd’s and some experiences like Levy Thamba’s.
The marijuana industry and its fans keep blaming the victims – saying they should have known, they shouldn’t have eaten the whole cookie, they should have quizzed the budtender who sold them the edibles on how long, how much… A novice user has no idea what questions to ask.
Quit blaming the victims. Novice users are part of legalization of pot. The recreational marijuana industry needs to admit that they accept and embrace that, and do things that safely accommodate novice users, such as, I don’t know, print serving sizes on all packages? Put only one serving of pot in each individually packaged edible? Put only one serving of pot in only one serving of food, and individually package that?
The Colorado marijuana industry needs to stop whining about the regulations that are being imposed on them in an attempt to keep the public safer, and admit their own culpability in new users’ bad (or fatal) experiences with pot.
And the rest of the country needs to understand that legalization absolutely does mean an increased number of users. Voters, ask yourselves if you’re ok with that. (Legalization of medical marijuana is just the first step to full legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Before you vote yes on medical marijuana, ask yourself if you’re ok with going all the way on this.)
Regulate It 
Joe Katz
/ June 7, 2014More users, new users, are all part of the marijuana industry’s plan.
Are you saying that a legal business will try to increase sales in order to improve its profitability? That seems like free-market capitalism to me.
Novice users mean lots and lots of experiences like Maureen Dowd’s and some experiences like Levy Thamba’s.
New drinkers sometimes over-drink. Maureen Dowd over-ate. Dowd was was incautious; fortunately, she suffered no lasting harm. The cannabis industry and including its distributors need to erect a safety culture. But prudence would suggest that users should also take care to exercise good judgment. The imminent regulatory move to single-serve packaging might be a good start although we won’t know all its consequences until it begins.
Levy Thamba’s situation was a tragic accident. It’s a horrible aberration not a pattern.
The industry should not take a knee-jerk stance against regulation. But prospective pot users must also use common sense. For example: Are you trying something new? Don’t do it alone; have someone around who is more experienced. Are you unsure about proper dosages? Ask someone who knows. And, for heaven’s sake, start slow. Finally, it must become common knowledge to all that smoking cannabis is the easiest way to titrate (moderate) the dosage.
The blog post above makes the correct point that legalization will lead to increased usage. However, it leaves the misleading impression that legalization is the enemy of effective regulation rather than a prerequisite for creating a culture of safety and moderation in cannabis consumption.
regulateit
/ June 9, 2014Started to reply, but it got too long. My response to your comment turned into a new post: https://regulateit.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/the-industry-should-not-take-a-knee-jerk-stance-against-regulation/