Young man leaps to death after eating pot-laced cookie

slimvictor

slimvictor

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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 Levi Thamba Pongi, a native of the Republic of Congo who fell from a motel balcony on March 11.

Pongi's friends told investigators he ate the cookie and "exhibited hostile behavior" that included pulling things off walls and speaking erratically, the 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 and their investigation remains open.​

Colorado law bans the sale of recreational marijuana products to people under 21. Possession by people under 21 is also against the law. Authorities said one of Pongi's friends was old enough to buy the cookie from a pot shop.

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, said Michelle Weiss-Samaras, a spokeswoman for the Denver County medical examiner's office.

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.

cont at
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ana-pot-edible-death-colorado-denver/7220685/
 
Very sad story.
Edibles can be incredibly strong - no weaker than a full-on LSD trip.
If you eat a gram of good weed in a cookie, you can be very, very effected.
Those who know what I am talking about, know. It might be surprising to those who don't.
So, with edibles more common, I think we can expect to see more freakouts from people not expecting to suddenly be in the middle of an intense psychedelic journey.

However, doesn't it seem odd to call the cookie "pot-laced", since the weed was in there on purpose, and everyone had full knowledge of it? Doesn't "lacing" mean putting the drug in as a trick or secret? Probably just sensationalist headlines...
 
Yeah that is sad and you are right edibles can be very strong. I've had quite a few really strong cookies here over the years and although I have never freaked out I can see why someone with little or no experience may, of course not all cookies or edibles have to be really strong, I have had some that were made with not very much heads/buds that were quite weak, but the person I get mine off mostly uses several ounces of high grade buds to make their mix and the end result is usually smashing, often you are best to have half or less.

In regards to 'laced' a quick look at my computers dictionary thing comes up with this -

3 (usu. be laced with) add an ingredient, especially alcohol, to (a drink or dish) to enhance its flavour or strength: coffee laced with brandy.
Click to expand...
 
Lace just means to mix, or to entwine, not necessarily in secret. You can lace your food with chilli, or your cookee with weed :p (In UK English, I don't know about US).

I wonder if he was drug naive? I've never really seen anyone who's got really high be able to move all that much, unless it's a panic attack.

My only thought is if he'd been having panic attacks, maybe a flight response kicked in that overwhelmed all logic.
 
Funny that y'all had different understandings of "laced" than I did.
Still, I checked with urban dictionary, and got this:
1. a drug that is laced into another is snuck in without the consumers knowledge. ("man, that weed i smoked last night was laced with cocaine")
Click to expand...
(lol at someone putting coke in weed!)
So I am not totally crazy for thinking that.

incognito, it could have been a panic attack, but it could have simply been a strong drug experience.
If someone on 4 strong hits of acid did the same thing, it would be harder to think it "must have" been a panic attack.
It is true that acid is very stimulating, and weed is not, but when you are so high that you no longer have a body, moving around doesn't have the same meaning...
 
I can't really speak for weed, it's not a drug I take all too often, once and a while I smoke a small amount, but it brings out my anxiety. I have no experience with edibles.

The reason I think of fight or flight response is because I've had that kind of experience whilst on a drug before and was overcome with an overwhelming sensation to jump in front of a train - It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life, Like I was a passenger in my own body. It scared the life out of me, although I didn't physically move.

Moving on from that I get panic attacks now and then, and often there's an overwhelming sensation to escape or flee your current area. When I first started having them, I'd end up in the garden in the middle of the night. That was the basis for my train of thought at least.
 
^ as I've never had an edible cannabis experience, I can't really comment. I don't think I personally could handle it, at least with smoking you can almost titrate the dose to get where you want, with edibles you eat them, and an hour later boom!

I have read that edibles are far more potent, because it's metabolized into a stronger form and I've read anywhere from 60% - 400% stronger, but only from forum posts.
 
slimvictor said:
One of Pongi's friends also tried the cookie but stopped after feeling sick,
Click to expand...

How do you 'stop'? Every time I've made edibles it's been 1 cookie/brownie/slice of cake = one dose. You usually have a lot of time to down the food before you feel anything. If they were eating more than one then how many did this kid eat?
 
Denver coroner: Man fell to his death after eating marijuana cookies

A college student visiting Denver jumped to his death from a hotel balcony after eating marijuana-infused cookies, according to a coroner's report that marks the first time authorities have publicly linked a death to marijuana since legal sales of recreational cannabis began in Colorado.

Levy Thamba, a 19-year-old student at Northwest College in Powell, Wyo., died last month at a Holiday Inn in northeast Denver. On Wednesday, the Denver coroner released a report concluding that Thamba's death was caused by "multiple injuries due to a fall from height."

The coroner also listed "marijuana intoxication" from cannabis-infused cookies as a significant condition contributing to the death. The report classifies the death as an accident.

A brief summary of the investigation that was included in the autopsy report says Thamba, also known as Levi Thamba Pongi, traveled to Denver with three friends on spring break. On March 11, the report says, Thamba consumed "marijuana cookies" and "soon thereafter exhibited hostile behavior (pulling items off the walls) and spoke erratically."

"The decedent's friends attempted to calm him down and were temporarily successful," the report states.

"However, the decedent eventually reportedly jumped out of bed, went outside the hotel room, and jumped over the balcony railing."

Thamba and his friends were staying on the hotel's fourth floor, according to the report.

Michelle Weiss-Samaras, a spokeswoman for the coroner's office, said the office often lists alcohol intoxication as a significant contributing factor in a death — for instance, in an alcohol-related car accident. She said the office also has seen cases involving apparent marijuana-impaired driving, but she said she believes this is the first time it has listed marijuana intoxication from an edible product in such a way.



Read more: Denver coroner: Man fell to death after eating marijuana cookies - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_2...ll-death-after-eating-marijuana#ixzz2xq1MaJz9
 
What ever china..8)

People with mental instability should take reasonable doses before jumping in so hard..

In other news we have to many people to list that died in alcohol related accidents the night all over the world.

If you cant hold a drug at the level then best keep your ass outta the pool. sorry it happened but you were probably really unstable to begin with.

This is earth and it dangerous. If people wanna stay safe then ware a blaze orange shirt when you leave your house to get vegetables and a new purifier for your tap water.
 
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Ugh. I am so tired of reading stuff like this, it's a tragic thing that this person died in itself but to try and blame a marijuana brownie seems absurd. I've taken edibles of the strongest kind with no tolerance and while yes it was scary, even enough to make me think I might die FROM WEED, but it never shifted my thoughts in a way that would push me to do something like that. I can see it happening in a 1/1,000,000 chance with a heavy psychedelic dose but a brownie? No. And I'm well aware that all drugs effect people differently, but how many times have you heard of this happening? Probably none. I'm sorry but the guy obviously had some shit on his mind. Mental health is a bitch, maybe worse than my 7 1/2 year addiction and running. Tweek rant over.
R.I.P.
 
Thanks for the merge slimvictor!

From what I've seen in stores, the edibles were dosed at 75mg of THC for the dixie elixir cannabis sodas, and the rest were dosed at 100mg THC total.

In Colorado, 10mg of THC is considered a dose. However, in the retail store, the clerk mentioned that the dixie elixer (75mg THC) would be what he would consider about 3 doses. The candy came in 10 piece packs, with each piece containing 10mg, totaling 100mg of THC.

Idk about you but when I get stoned, 10 small pieces of candy might not cut it. They were small-they were things like gum drops and other jellies. In that form, it seems easy to over do it if you have a big head.

Basically, I think this dude saw 10+ pieces of candy or a relatively small brownie(s) and said fuck it.

No matter what though, this is a sad situation.
 
Relevent:

"You never see a positive drug story on the news. They always have the same LSD story. You've all seen it: "Today a young man on acid … thought he could fly … jumped out of a building … what a tragedy!" What a dick. He's an idiot. If he thought he could fly, why didn't he take off from the ground first? Check it out? You don't see geese lined up to catch elevators to fly south; they fly from the fucking ground. He's an idiot. He's dead. Good! We lost a moron? Fucking celebrate. There's one less moron in the world."
- Bill Hicks
 
And I'm well aware that all drugs effect people differently, but how many times have you heard of this happening?
Click to expand...

I know two people who have had experiences in which they lost control of themselves after eating (irresponsibly dosed) edibles. Thankfully they stayed at ground level and neither was injured, but for anyone who has seen what high-dose THC can do it's not hard to imagine something like this happening. No mental illness needed.
 
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