Why Canada Should Never Allow THC Gummy Bears Anywhere Near the Country

Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office claims Florida woman targeted kids

with THC gummy bears and brownies

Annie Blanks, Pensacola News Journal 

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office is touting the arrest of a Milton woman who the sheriff claims targeted children with the production of THC-laced gummy bears, brownies and butter. 

SRSO Sheriff Bob Johnson said Thursday that SWAT officers arrested Tracy Farley, 53, at her home at 6700 Highway 87 North after a search warrant turned up drugs and drug-laced items in the home.

Johnson said deputies found gummy bears and brownies laced with THC, a primary component of marijuana, as well as seven pounds of "bud" or potent marijuana; "budder" or a butter-like paste mixed with THC that can be spread on food items; and cocaine.

Johnson said the drug haul was particularly concerning due to the gummy bears and brownies. 

"These two items were specific for children, they're packaged for children," Johnson said. "It's a pack of gummies and if a kid saw them sitting on a desk, he'd pick it up and chew it." 

And to whom is she selling these gummy bears? Not kids, pedophiles! Who else? They get kids high and then abuse them. There is no reason on earth why these things should be allowed anywhere.

Johnson said his agency often gets flak for marijuana arrests, but he said this case demonstrated the necessity of taking a hard stance on illegal drugs. 

"We catch a lot of people on our Facebook page after a marijuana bust saying, 'Why are you messing with marijuana? You need to be going after cocaine,'" Johnson said. "Well, it's because of stuff like this. Just because they're selling marijuana doesn't mean they're not selling something else, and in this case, she's selling those THC-laced gummy bears." 

Johnson said it wasn't clear yet if Farley ever actually sold any of the goods to children, and the investigation is still ongoing. 

Farley was charged with possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of paraphernalia, and possession of synthetic cannabinoid with intent to distribute. 

She is being held in the Santa Rosa County Jail on $8,000 bond. 

Santa Rosa Co., Fla

Ban Gummy Bears and Other Kid-Friendly Cannabis Edibles, says Toronto Medical Officer of Health

In new report, Dr. Eileen de Villa calls on federal government to keep youth safe

Lauren Pelley · CBC News

THC-laced gummy bears found by police in Laval, Quebec in 2017. In a new report, Dr. Eileen de Villa recommends

that Toronto's board of health urge the federal government to ban kid-friendly edibles like these. (Laval Police)

With Health Canada aiming to regulate edibles later this year, Toronto's medical officer of health is calling for a ban on products like gummy bears, lollipops, and candy-flavoured vaping flavours that could appeal to kids.

In a new report, Dr. Eileen de Villa also recommends that the city's board of health urge the federal government to adopt a variety of other strategies to keep youth safe — including prohibiting promotion of vaping products in places youth can access, and banning marketing materials showing cannabis use in movies and video games.

"Implementing restrictions through federal legislation will be most effective in preventing youth access to cannabis vaping products," De Villa writes.

The report comes two months after the federal government announced plans to amend the Cannabis Act to allow for the sale of vaping liquids and oils, edibles, and topical products, with draft regulations expected to come into force this October.

De Villa's recommendations are heading to the board of health on Feb. 25.

"If you're legalizing edibles in the form of gummy bears and lollipops, well then, you're going to increase the likelihood of kids consuming those," said Coun. Joe Cressy, chair of the board of health.

It's "critical" the country regulates the products in a way that "reduces the potential negative impacts, and importantly, has a focus on reducing those impacts on young children," Cressy continued.

Youth cannabis exposure on the rise

The new recommendations are meant to be "proactive," he added, but already, the potential dangers of edible use among youth have made headlines in Canada.

In Oshawa last year, two students were sent to hospital after eating pot-infused cookies, and in Sarnia, a cannabis-infused gummy bear left four teenage girls feeling ill — just two examples of a growing trend. 

From 2013 to 2017, calls to the Ontario Poison Centre for cannabis exposure for children and youth under 19 increased from 116 to 234, CBC Toronto reported in December.

"Lessons learned from the United States underscore the importance of preventing accidental consumption of edibles by children," noted de Villa in her report.

"Following cannabis legalization in Colorado, there was an increase in the hospitalization of children due to accidental consumption of edible cannabis prior to the introduction of more health protective regulations."

'Obviously, no one wants to attract children,' said longtime cannabis industry professional Abi Roach. Still, she cautioned against the government being too 'overbearing' when it comes to regulating edibles.

(Evan Mitsui/CBCNews)

'No one wants to attract children'

"Obviously, no one wants to attract children," said longtime cannabis industry professional Abi Roach, who owns cannabis paraphernalia store HotBox Cafe in Kensington Market.

In her store, no patrons under 19 are allowed in unless they're accompanied by a parent, and education on safe edibles and child-proofing is part of the sales process, she said.

But Roach cautioned against the government being too "overbearing" when it comes to regulating edibles. "It's up to the parents who consume to keep these away from their children," she said.

A rather laissez-faire attitude. She seems to be suggesting there should be no controls over edibles, but the government should leave it up to parents to protect their children. Parents who are pot-heads! What could possibly go wrong?

Colorado’s Legalized Marijuana has Resulted in Hospital Visits for Children

Marijuana-infused gummy candies (L) purchased in Northglenn, Colorado are shown next regular ones. © Rick Wilking / Reuters  Do these people have a brain in their heads? What did they think would happen when you make marijuana gummy bears? Is it spectacular stupidity or do they just not care about children?

The rate of marijuana exposure in young children in Colorado has increased 150 percent since 2014, when recreational marijuana products became available on the legal market, a new study says. This has led to more children ending up in hospitals.

The study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatric on Monday, says that the number of children admitted into hospitals and poison control centers due to being exposed to marijuana has sharply risen in Colorado since the state legalized pot.

Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, in Aurora, looked at admissions information from a children's hospital and data from a regional poison center between 2009 and 2015. They found that 81 children, all of whom were under 10 years old, were treated at the hospital, and that 163 exposure calls were made to the poison center. The poison center cases increased by 34 percent each year, compared to the average 19 percent increase in the rest of the US.

“Marijuana exposures in young children have resulted in respiratory compromise requiring the use of a ventilator and intensive care unit admission in a handful of cases,” senior author Dr. Genie Roosevelt of the Denver Health and Hospital Authority told CBS News.

Officials had hoped that the child-resistant packaging requirements that are part of the recreational marijuana law would cause a drop in accidental exposures in children, but the increase was more dramatic than expected, Roosevelt said.

Marijuana-related visits to the children’s hospital increased from 1.2 per 100,000 in 2012 – two years before legalization – to 2.3 per 100,000 two years after the law was passed. Half of the children were under three years of age.

That is almost double! And since half of them were under three, we can probably assume that the entire increase has been borne by children under 3.

Research has shown a strong connection between marijuana use in under 16s, and full-blown, irreversible schizophrenia. There has been no research, according to Colorado Children's Hospital, on the effects of marijuana on a one or two year old child. 

We know that short-term effects are inversely proportional to a child's size and weight. Whether there are long-term effects from a single exposure is extremely important to know and state legislators should wipe the dollar signs from their eyes and find out, and start protecting children. It's obvious some parents can't be bothered.

Colorado’s increase is happening faster than the rest of the US, researchers wrote. Most of the time, the marijuana was owned by family or friends.

The main culprit behind the exposure is believed to be edibles, or sweets that are infused with THC - the active ingredient in marijuana. These candies or baked goods are easily mistaken with child-friendly versions, and children who are exposed can become agitated, lethargic, vomit, and lose balance.

Colorado just enacted a bill effective July 1 that bans edible marijuana products that might catch the eye of children. As part of the bill, marijuana can no longer be sold in the shape of humans, animals, or fruits.

They should not allow THC laced candies period. What insanity!

"The caretakers were leaving these in plain sight of children and outside of child-safe packaging," Roosevelt told CBS News. "We'd like people to think of these products as medication. Stored out of sight and away from children, like your aunt's diabetic medication. We need to make that cultural leap.”

You are asking marijuana users to act responsibly....good luck with that.

Last week, the town of Hugo, Colorado, told residents to stop drinking tap water because the municipal supply had tested positive for THC - an unintended consequence of the legal marijuana boom that brought Colorado more than $135 million in tax revenue in 2015.

Twenty-three states have passed laws that allow for medical marijuana use. Washington, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, DC, have joined Colorado in passing laws that allow marijuana for recreational use by people aged 21 or older.