Pot Kills!

DENVER (AP) – A Wyoming college student visiting Denver on spring break jumped to his death after eating a marijuana cookie that his friend legally purchased in one of Colorado’s recreational pot shops, authorities said Wednesday.
An autopsy report lists marijuana intoxication as a “significant contributing factor” in the death of 19-year-old Levy Thamba Pongi, a native of the Republic of Congo who fell from a motel balcony on March 11.
It marked the first time the Denver medical examiner’s office has listed a marijuana edible as a contributor to a death, said Michelle Weiss-Samaras, a spokeswoman for the office.
“We have not had that,” she said.
Investigators believe Pongi and his friends came to Colorado to try marijuana, Weiss-Samaras said.
The friends told investigators that Pongi ate the cookie and “exhibited hostile behavior” that included pulling things off walls and speaking erratically, the autopsy report said.
Attempts by the three friends to calm Pongi seemed to work until he went outside and jumped over the balcony railing, according to the report.
Denver police ruled the death an accident but said their investigation remains open.
Colorado law bans the sale of recreational marijuana products to people under 21. It is also illegal for those under 21 to possess marijuana, and adults can be charged with a felony for giving it to someone under the legal age.
Authorities said one of Pongi’s friends was old enough to buy the cookie from a pot shop. It was unclear whether the friend might face charges.
The medical examiner’s office had Pongi’s body tested for at least 250 different substances, including bath salts and synthetic marijuana, which are known to cause strange behavior. His blood tested positive only for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, according to the report.
One of Pongi’s friends also tried the cookie but stopped after feeling sick, Weiss-Samaras said.
The marijuana concentration in Pongi’s blood was 7.2 nanograms of active THC per milliliter of blood. Colorado law says juries can assume someone is driving while impaired by marijuana if their blood contains more than 5 nanograms per milliliter of the chemical.
Officials at Northwest College in Powell, Wyo., say Pongi started taking classes as an exchange student in January. He was studying engineering.
“The Northwest College campus community continues to grieve after Levy’s death,” the college said in a statement. “All of us were deeply saddened by this tragic incident and feel for his family.”
- By SADIE GURMAN, Associated Press

This is tragic.

Thats too bad...

I think it is well misunderstood how strong edibles are. They should probably have a warning label on them. I would not consider this a death by marijuana. This is clearly someone taking a drug without the proper knowledge.

Of course no one compares this to how many kids die from drinking alcohol.

That's tragic, but the kid obviously had issues.

This is very tragic...

My first impulse was to gather my thoughts and type out my opinion on the matter... But I feel that anything I say will seem insensitive, so I will only say that I am very sad to hear about this and that my condolences go out to those close to him.

Here we see what happens when an Adult aged 21 years of age-or over- breaks the law, and supplies a strong pot cookie to his 19 year old friend who in turn can't handle the strength of it, and then acts in a fatal manner, to his demise. This is like a Father giving his 19 year old son a bottle of whiskey to drink.

It's these irresponsable acts that will have the prohibitionists screaming to the Authorities to ban the sale of this herb for good. Please forgive me for sounding insensitive , because my heart goes out to the family of anyone who loses their lives like this, but i would like to requote what i read elsewhere: 'Marijuanna cures everything except stupidity'.

I can see that the only way around this problem of stupidity is that everyone who purchases from a store must sign a declaration that they will respect the strength of the products and not break any laws by supplying to others, because the results may be actions resulting in death.

A sad accident. But it was the fall who killed him, not the pot. When selling a mind altering substance, providing a thorough SSDS (substance safety data sheet) should be mandatory IMO.

Yes, but it's mostly about educating people to understand how to use intoxicating substances in a safe manner, because then the potential harms to the individual and society are greatly minimised.
The Government should inform the public about the importance of taking any intoxicating substance (including alcohol) with awareness to-
1. good mindset,
2. safe setting,
3. safe dose.

If respected,it could save many lives.

I'm with you, christian. I think it's the seller's responsibility to include a instruction leaflet with the substance he sells. The government should enforce it to make sure everyone has a real chance to be honestly informed. It's weird that in my country the Vitamin C bottle has a comprehensive package insert so nobody overdoses on Vitamin C, but the booze comes instruction-free and without any warning.

Hi Ufostrahlen.

The above situation was probably a very rare occurance, still it's always good that the public are reminded to respect these useful substances. If abuse continues the authorities will use that as an excuse to 'shut shop'. I don't expect anything from the Pharma or Alcohol industry to be so easily demonised, though.

Really?

You don't think he would have gotten cannabis, oral or otherwise, without the assistance of a 21 year old?

This seems like pretty faulty reasoning.


Not really...Prohibitionists have myriads of absurd reasons for wanting prohibition (the number one reason, at least for prohibitionists in position of power, is profit).

And even with things like alcohol, where there is a much higher risk of harm, we have seen that prohibition doesn't work. Prohibition is literally the most unjustifiable position. Giving prohibitionists any credence immediately invalidates an argument, imo.

at 19 years old your an adult and should be to do w/e other adults do. The 21 in the US has always been hippocritical. You can send a 19 year old off to die at war but they are not allowed to decide what intoxicants they wish to use? Here in Canada the age is 19..and 19 is certainly old enough that your responsible for your actions IMO.

This is the sort of behavior I associate with an acute LSD freak-out, not a pot brownie.

The article implies that they were cannabis naive going into it, so I suppose going from total inexperience to a powerful pot brownie might be pretty distressing, especially if things go sour.

I wonder if he had underlying neurological issues beforehand.

Blessings
~ND

No doubt he had something bottled up or there wouldn't have been the hostile behavior. But I agree, this has to be looked at next to however many stupid alcohol deaths happened that day in Denver alone. Soooo many people die from booze related incidents and mostly we seem to just accept it as being an aspect of basic human weakness/stupidity... While when other substances are concerned there seems to be this vastly disproportional desire to try regulating the trouble out of existence.

This incident is a terrible tragedy no doubt, but we already know that prohibition doesn't work. However, aling with easier access there needs to be much better education and labeling. Edibles can kick your ass. I'm a hardboiled 30 year MJ user and even those little medical chocolates whip my butt. For starters I think the edibles need to be labeled somehow in a way easier to understand format: how many BUs (Buzz Units) per candy, with a BU being roughly equivalent to one beer or whatever. Or there could be a strength meter, like a thermometer, on the label. As it stands, when you pop an edible in your mouth it's kind of a wild guess how hard it will hit. This is made worse by the fact that chocolates or cookies might seem less threatening or "drug-like" than smoking, even though smoking or vaporizing gives you a lot more control over the strength of your dose.

Like most things substance related, it's mostly about education and information... But a few unfortunates will occasionally slip through the cracks. Better labeling could potentially help a little.

Fall related deaths per year from legally purchasable alcohol?

I've read an interview of Christian Rätsch today in which he strongly discourages (young) people to eat hash (brownies) because of their very strong, often negative effects (panic, extreme bodyload,...) He would rather give someone LSD, as he thinks it's unlikely to have negative effects from it.
And that's exactly how I see it. Edible marijuana has to be treated as you would any psychedelic. It cannot be compared to smoking.
Set and setting...

Firstly, my condolences and this is very tragic!

Secondly, I was this exact same age the first and only time I had an edible. I was seasoned already with smoking, but WOW! Eating it was like a completely different substance! I can't imagine that being the way one is introduced to cannabis. I agree about the SSDS or BU rating.

Most of the standardized edible manufacturers in my area have got it down to where THC dosages are marked on the package. 20mg of THC is the industry standard dose. They also come with warnings to keep out of reach of children and the laws etc. If only this was available to everyone!

Random edibles are another story. You never know how strong they are.

Yeah, mine was a random at a party. I'm glad i decided to only eat half. I don't even remember what happened to the other half.

Joe... err... House, looks like you are keeping the elite icon