{"id":22918,"date":"2015-09-21T14:47:01","date_gmt":"2015-09-21T18:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=22918"},"modified":"2015-09-21T14:47:01","modified_gmt":"2015-09-21T18:47:01","slug":"marijuana-epidemic-overtaking-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=22918","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana Epidemic Overtaking Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"title\">Advocacy Group: Commercialization Of Legal Pot Has Led To \u2018Epidemic\u2019 For Colorado\u00a0Kids<\/h1>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>DENVER (CBS4)<\/strong> \u2013 The results of a new study about the impact of Colorado\u2019s marijuana legalization is raising troubling questions for parents. The study cites a significant increase in marijuana-related traffic deaths, hospital visits and school suspensions.<\/p>\n<p>The parents CBS4\u2019s Melissa Garcia spoke with say they\u2019re concerned about their children seeing messages promoting\u00a0pot all over town. Activists say it\u2019s the way pot is marketed and sold that has started to create some serious problems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never dreamed in a million years that this would happen to my son,\u201d said parent Kendal, who didn\u2019t want to use his last name.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1386923\" title=\"Advocacy Group: Commercialization Of Legal Pot Has Led To Epidemic For Colorado Kids\" src=\"http:\/\/cbsdenver.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/09\/pot-youth-5pkg-transfer.jpg?w=420&amp;h=236\" alt=\"Kandal talks with CBS4's CBS4's Melissa Garcia (creit: CBS)\" width=\"420\" height=\"236\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Kendal came home one evening to find his 13-year-old son unconscious from what he says was a marijuana overdose.<\/p>\n<p>He was gray. His heart wasn\u2019t beating and he wasn\u2019t breathing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Kendal used CPR to resuscitate him and later talked to his son\u2019s high school peer and supplier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had heard from kids that there was 60 percent of this particular high school using drugs, and she shook her head and said, \u2018That\u2019s way low,&#8217;\u201d Kendal said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED STORIES:<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/denver.cbslocal.com\/tag\/marijuana-legalization\/\">Marijuana Legalization Story Archive<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cKendal\u2019s story breaks my heart, but I\u2019ve got to tell you we have heard that from hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of parents throughout the state,\u201d said Diane Carlson, Smart Colorado co-founder.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1386921\" title=\"Advocacy Group: Commercialization Of Legal Pot Has Led To Epidemic For Colorado Kids\" src=\"http:\/\/cbsdenver.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/09\/diane-carlson.jpg?w=420&amp;h=236\" alt=\"Diane Carlson with Smart Colorado talks with CBS4's CBS4's Melissa Garcia (creit: CBS)\" width=\"420\" height=\"236\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Carlson says Colorado\u2019s child and teen use of marijuana has become an epidemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKids have no idea how dangerous or harmful Colorado\u2019s pot is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cbsdenver.wordpress.com\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=1385332&amp;action=edit\">According to a report released this month<\/a> by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Colorado saw a 29 percent increase in emergency room visits, and a 38 percent increase in hospitalizations during retail marijuana\u2019s first year.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1386922\" title=\"Advocacy Group: Commercialization Of Legal Pot Has Led To Epidemic For Colorado Kids\" src=\"http:\/\/cbsdenver.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/09\/pot-youth-5pkg-tra1nsfer.jpg?w=420&amp;h=236\" alt=\"(creit: CBS)\" width=\"420\" height=\"236\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The study states that over 11 percent of Colorado\u2019s 12 to 17 year-olds use pot \u2014 56 percent higher than the national average. It also cites a 40 percent increase in drug-related suspensions and expulsions \u2014 the vast majority from marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Carlson says the culprit is its commercialization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarijuana might have been legalized in our state; it did not have to mean massive commercialization and promotion of marijuana use,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Advocacy Group: Commercialization Of Legal Pot Has Led To \u2018Epidemic\u2019 For Colorado\u00a0Kids<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}