Maureen Dowd Says Maybe Her Pot-Munching Experience Was “Ill-Advised”

(nadbasher)

After New York Times’ Maureen Dowd wrote about her epic freakout in Colorado after eating what was apparently too much of a marijuana-filled chocolate bar, she’s responding to the buzz by admitting that maybe chowing down on that treat was a bit “ill-advised.”

She gave a statement to The Cannabist, a marijuana news site run by the Denver Post, saying she’s just like other pot tourists.

“I wrote in the column that I take responsibility for not knowing enough about what I was doing,” Dowd wrote in the statement. “I was focused more on the fun than the risks. In that sense, I’m probably like many other people descending on Denver.”

The Cannabist also spoke this week to a Colorado tour operator, who claimed he had warned Dowd about edibles during the three to four hours he spent with her on her visit in January.

“[He] gave me a great tour,” Dowd said in her statement. “There is no mention of edibles in my transcript of our interview, but we were together several hours and no doubt we did chat about it at some point.”

It sounds like Dowd has learned a valuable lesson — and no, she didn’t actually eat the whole candy bar… just a lot of it.

“Obviously, however, I didn’t come away with the knowledge I acquired the hard way — that more than a small amount of an edible was ill-advised for someone with a low tolerance level and that edibles are ingested differently and reaction times are quite different. I ate approximately a quarter of the candy bar, which was too much for someone like me.”

In case anyone is confused by her various pronouncements on the topic, Dowd explains that she is pro-legalization.

“I favor legalization,” she said, “but given all the tourists streaming into Colorado, it would be better to err on the side of conservative cautions.”

As with anything you’ve never eaten, taken or otherwise ingested into your body, it’s always wise to ask, then ask again and make totally sure how much of it you’re supposed to take before you do it. And then ask again and maybe talk to your Uncle Larry the expert. That and make sure to lay in a stock of snacks and plenty of blankets to cocoon yourself in in case you get paranoid.

Maureen Dowd reacts: In quest for fun, risks downplayed [The Cannabist]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist