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Valley report: Pot edibles haven’t threatened kids

Jason Auslander
The Aspen Times
Pitkin County commissioners prompted a discussion about accidental ingestion of marijuana edibles by children prior to denying license to a woman who wanted to produce "Ganja Gum" and other sweet, cannabis-laced products at a facility at the Aspen Business Center.

An organization that advocates for responsible marijuana use has found no major problems in Pitkin County involving children and accidental ingestion of pot edibles, an official said Wednesday.

“The problem we talked about initially might not be as rampant as we thought,” said Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo, who co-founded the Valley Marijuana Council.

DiSalvo made the statement Wednesday in front of Pitkin County commissioners, who asked the sheriff and the council in April to look into whether accidental ingestion of marijuana edibles by children is a problem in the area with an eye toward possibly banning them.



“The reason it took so long was we kept looking for something we couldn’t find,” DiSalvo said.

In other words, the Valley Marijuana Council couldn’t find evidence of an accidental marijuana edibles ingestion problem by children in Aspen and Pitkin County, he said. In fact, statistics that show edibles accounting for only about 12 percent of statewide pot sales indicate marijuana edibles aren’t all that popular among adults, and that adult ingestion isn’t really a problem either, DiSalvo said.



“I think most people don’t want it,” he said, adding that smokable marijuana is the most popular statewide product.

DiSalvo also gave state officials credit for effectively dealing with the marijuana edibles issue by requiring each piece to be individually stamped with a “THC” mark, and for banning edibles in the shape of fruit or animals.

“The state has taken over and done a better job than we could do on the local level,” he said.

DiSalvo and other members of the marijuana council are scheduled to give a full presentation of their report to a joint meeting of the Pitkin County commission and the Aspen City Council on Nov. 15. The council includes dispensary representatives, counselors who work with kids and law enforcement officials.

The Aspen Times Weekly took an in-depth look at the issue this summer in a cover story titled “The New Enemy?”


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