Maureen Dowd's marijuana-induced freak out

BBC News ^ | 4 June 2014 Last updated at 12:21 ET | By Anthony Zurcher

[a fool in paradise]

Maureen Dowd travelled to Colorado in January, ate a bit too much of a marijuana-laced chocolate bar and proceeded to have a Valley-of-the-Dolls-style meltdown in her hotel room.

Here's how she describes the experience in her Wednesday New York Times column:

"I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. I barely made it from the desk to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours. I was thirsty but couldn't move to get water. Or even turn off the lights. I was panting and paranoid, sure that when the room-service waiter knocked and I didn't answer, he'd call the police and have me arrested for being unable to handle my candy."

"I strained to remember where I was or even what I was wearing, touching my green corduroy jeans and staring at the exposed-brick wall. As my paranoia deepened, I became convinced that I had died and no one was telling me."

Dowd pivots to talk about the dangers of pot overdoses and the "darker side of unleashing a drug as potent as marijuana on a horde of tourists of all ages and tolerance levels seeking a mellow buzz".

She says there are current efforts in the Colorado legislature to regulate the potency and consistency of marijuana products, as well as to ensure that packaging of pot-laced candy and cookies can't be accidentally eaten by children.

Dowd follows in the footsteps of fellow Times columnist David Brooks, who wrote in January about how he used to have fun smoking pot as a teenager, but he grew tired of hanging out with stoners. He then took a position against marijuana legalisation.

Brooks was mercilessly mocked for that column - and Dowd is getting a similar reception...

[digger48]

As my paranoia deepened, I became convinced that I had died and no one was telling me

Much like your career after being dumped by Mikey

[Chickensoup]

Today’s marijuana has little to no resemblance to the marijuana of the sixties and seventies.

[justlurking]

Reads like Reefer Madness.

[dainbramaged]

Sounds like some good stuff - do they ship fedex?

[discostu]

Everybody gets a bad run once in a while. Little bit of Alman Brothers would have fixed her right up.

[blackdog]

It aint yo daddie's weed.

One single decent bud = an entire dime bag of the 70's weed. Selective breeding and hybridization has ushered modern weed into the heroin spectrum of effect.

Today's weed is not for the 70's excpectation crowd. It is a real jaunt down the rabbitt hole Ms. Dowd, you old has been saggy azzed dried up hack.

[justlurking]

Rules are rules:

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

This isn’t your dad’s Mary Jane. The stuff now if very potent. And, claims from the past that MJ doesn’t cause permanent damage can be flushed. We won’t know the full effects of this new stuff for years.

[a fool in paradise]

"I strained to remember where I was or even what I was wearing, touching my green corduroy jeans and staring at the exposed-brick wall. As my paranoia deepened, I became convinced that I had died and no one was telling me."

[EEGator]

[a fool in paradise]

"I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. I barely made it from the desk to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours. I was thirsty but couldn't move to get water. Or even turn off the lights. I was panting and paranoid,

"That's GOOOOOD SH&T!!!" < /C.Manson, expert >

[Defiant]

Too bad no man would be willing to be near her to watch out for things like that.

[Paine in the Neck]

I was thinking The Lost Weekend with Dowdy in the Ray Milland role.

[justlurking]

Too late. :-)

[BenLurkin]

Zing!

[martin_fierro]

Rules.

RULES.

RULES.

[Wolfie]

The edible she bought comprised 16 doses. She did not know that and consumed far more than a single dose. It’s like someone who knows nothing about whiskey downing a whole bottle instead of just a shot.

[EEGator]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCtdKWWfZG8

[a fool in paradise]