The recreational use of marijuana has been catching a lot of heat recently. This is because of the recent news of a man shooting his wife after consuming pot, a student who jumped to his death after eating too many pot-laced cookies and now 10-year-old drug dealers.
Law enforcement officials in Greely, Colo., have caught three 10- year-old boys and one 10-year-old girl dealing their parents’ stolen pot on their school campus. These fourth graders admitted they took the drugs from their parents’ supply and brought the drugs to school to sell. One student admitted that they tried one bite of an edible marijuana product but suffered from no ill effects.
Law enforcement officials have compared it to kids stealing prescription pills from parents and grandparents who do not secure their medication. John Gates, director of safety for Weld County School District 6 stated, “This could not have happened had they secured their marijuana. Nothing good’s going to come from having 10-year-olds find it, use it or take it to school.”
Monfort Elementary School Principal Jennifer Sheldon added, “We urge all parents, grandparents and anyone who cares for children to treat marijuana as you would prescription drugs, alcohol or even firearms. This drug is potentially lethal to children, and should always be kept under lock and key, away from young people.”
The trickle down of marijuana to minors has been a major concern of opponents and advocates of the drug. But the fact is kids still get ahold of pot on a regular basis across the country whether it’s legal or not.
The lure of added state tax revenue is also playing a major part in the debate. It has been estimated that Colorado may make as much as $500 million in tax revenue from the legal sale of marijuana. The amount of money being made by the state is so great that the Colorado Department of Revenue cannot keep up with the media calls flooding its office.
But what is not being seen in Colorado is more attention to drug education and drug management. President Obama has stated that the government will look at the Colorado experiment and how the state handles distribution of the drug. But so far it seems that there are way too many incidents of the drug falling into the wrong hands, reported and unreported.
