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Local panel dissects legal marijuana

Around 50 people, mostly students, attended a panel discussion of marijuana Thursday evening at Fort Lewis College. From left are: Tracy Robinette and Maggie Gallagher of Santé Alternative Wellness, Ariel Wishkovsky with the city manager’s office, Luke Mason of Aurum Labs, Master Trooper Doug Wiersma of Colorado State Patrol, Dr. David Hughes, an emergency room physician at Mercy Regional Medical Center, and Jonny Radding of Durango Organics.

About 50 people crowded into the Student Union Ballroom of Fort Lewis College for “What’s Up with Marijuana,” a panel on legalized pot that included experts with vastly different outlooks on its benefits and costs.

Jonny Radding of Durango Organics, Maggie Gallagher and Tracy Robinette of Santé, and Lucas Mason of Aurum Labs said business is booming, and more and more people are enjoying the benefits provided by a tightly regulated marijuana industry.

Colorado State Patrol’s Doug Wiersma said among the biggest issues facing law enforcement is that people get high and drive, and they take marijuana onto federal lands and across state lines.

“People – residents and tourists – come here and think that smoking pot in public is legal,” he said. “But that’s still not true.”

Dr. David Hughes, director of emergency medicine at Mercy Regional Medical Center, said in the last three years, marijuana-related visits to the emergency room increased 57 percent.

He said, “Any medication always has risks and benefits. … For such a health-conscious community – where gluten and MSG are seen as pariahs – it’s crazy that people are blind to a substance with so many adverse affects.”

Jonny Radding of Durango Organics said he thought many people viewed marijuana as a better option than pharmaceuticals.

Hughes listed several negative side effects of taking marijuana, including cyclic vomiting syndrome, cognitive impairment, psychosis and lack of motivation syndrome.

He mentioned that a friend’s son takes a marijuana compound to treat seizures.

“It’s very effective with seizures. But the kid is a zombie. He’s stoned all the time. Every substance we have has different chemical properties. People think natural substances are a lot better. That’s simply not true.”

Ariel Wishkovsky, business development coordinator with the city of Durango, said legal marijuana was swelling city’s coffers. Medical marijuana alone, he said, was responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue in the city’s general fund.

“We use the money to plow the roads with all the snow we’ve had recently,” Wishkovsky said.

The city should know how much revenue it raised from retail marijuana operations in March, he said.

cmcallister@ durangoherald.com

Apr 4, 2016
Unknowns remain about marijuana’s impact on public health


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