The United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is releasing details about a college student who ate a pot cookie and then jumped from the fourth floor of a Holiday Inn in Colorado. It spotlights a public campaign about edible marijuana, which includes a call for further regulation. That could include better labels, more education, and guidelines that promote small portion sizes for cannabis products.
The case study involved Levy Thamba, a foreign exchange student from the Republic of Congo enjoying spring break with his buddies in Denver. CDC reported that he was "marijuana-naïve."
Thamba ate one weed cookie serving. He then consumed five more tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) servings within an hour, ingesting the entire cookie.
The case could reignite the hot debate of marijuana legalization. Four U.S. states and the District of Columbia have made it legal for anyone over 21 years old to legally buy the drug, including sweet foods such as cookies and brownies that contain it.
Colorado and Washington were the first states to legalize pot.
The coroners who evaluated Thamba's body named "marijuana intoxication" from cannabis cookies as a big factor in his death, according to Valley News. It was categorized as an accident.
A police report reveals some details about the incident. About 3.5 hours after eating the first cookie serving, he spoke with irregular speech, then later jumped off a fourth-floor balcony and died due to trauma.
Workers at the marijuana dispensary had suggested that Thamba eat about one-sixth of the weed cookie, which contained 10 mg of THC. The psychoactive ingredient would kick in within 30 minutes.
However, after not getting "high" after half an hour, Thamba then consumed the rest of the cookie. It contained 65 mg of THC.
In its report, the CDC noted that due to the delayed physiological effects of eating edibles infused with THC, multiple servings are often eaten quickly, according to The Washington Post. Then the person gets high.
The CDC reports that marijuana is the second most frequently used recreational drug in the U.S., following only alcohol. There were about 19.8 million past-month users in 2013.