Who is the target market for marijuana candy?

In this photo can you tell which candies are made from marijuana and which ones are made with sugar and sold in all stores? The answer will be later in the story.

With marijuana now legal in many states, issues are arising that may have been overlooked in the eagerness to make marijuana legal.

Marijuana (cannabis) candies are hitting the market like a storm, and more people are now ending up in the E.R., or even dead, after ingesting them as well as brownies and cookies made from cannabis.

In Colorado, where marijuana is now legal, emergency rooms are seeing a rapidly growing number of people who have ingested marijuana edibles (candies, brownies and cookies). Dr. Chris Colwell told CBS News that "about five to 10 people now come in per week, complaining about how they’re feeling after ingesting edibles. They can’t end the effect of the marijuana."

“It’s an interesting phenomena that is hitting our emergency rooms,” San Mateo Police Chief Sue Mannheimer said. “There’s no way to know the content of the THC, nor what the other additives are and clearly they are not done in the auspices of public health or standards for restaurant production.”

Researchers say that the marijuana effect that occurs when eating an "edible" isn't immediate, so the user eats more. They also say that eating just the ear off a marijuana gummy bear is actually enough for a high, but just an ear when the candy is so small, seriously?

According to SLEDNET (South Lake El Dorado Narcotics Enforcement Team) there was a recent bust in South Lake Tahoe of 10,000 pieces of candy. Marijuana is concentrated into a butter which is then formed into gummies.

The main question that has surfaced is "why?" Medical cannabis in a candy form is a lifesaver for some, getting them their medicine ingested easily, but why make it look just like popular children's candy?

According to the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center, twenty-seven people have reported poisonings from marijuana edibles by early May of this year. Nine were children who swallowed innocent-looking edibles, most of which were in plain sight or in the refrigerator.

In a recent issue of JAMA Pediatrics they highlighted recent cases of deaths in Colorado due to edible marijuana products. Those incidents brought about state legislation to adopt rules that require edible retail pot products “to be shaped, stamped, colored, or otherwise marked with a standard symbol indicating that it contains marijuana and is not for consumption by children.”

Parents need to be aware that these laced candies are in schools, at collectives and on the streets.

If you need more information, please contact the South Tahoe Drug Free Coalition at 530-541-2445 or visit their website.

In answer to the picture, the marijuana candies are B, C and E while normal candy store candies are A, D and F.