This Is What Smoking Pot Does to People’s Respect for Others

Check out the sky-high piles of trash left by revelers in Denver after its 4/20 'cannabis celebration'

by Leah Jessen

In Colorado last week, pot smokers spent so much time getting high that they apparently “forgot” about other people — and left a completely trashed park in their wake, as officials from the city of Denver made clear.

Several thousand marijuana enthusiasts gathered at Denver’s Civic Center park on April 20 to celebrate cannabis smoking. The area the next day was in a “disrespectful state,” said Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.

It’s clear this is what smoking pot does to people’s level of respect for themselves, for others — and for their surroundings.

“Our parks and public spaces are held in the public trust … When you leave one of our parks trashed, you violate that trust,” Hancock, a Democrat, said on Monday.

When Colorado's legalization of pot came up for a vote in 2012, Hancock opposed the measure, but since then has embraced legalization.

“The 4/20 event has evolved over the last decade from an informal protest of marijuana prohibition to an organized festival that exalts in its legalization,” The Denver Post reported.

But beyond the trash left by revelers. “officers cited or arrested 48 event-goers, most of them for public marijuana consumption — a common occurrence in past events,” The Denver Post noted.

Fence-hopping, pot smoking, and delayed trash clean-up allegedly occurred from the 4/20 “weed day” festivities.

“No matter how it gets into your system, it affects almost every organ in your body, and your nervous system and immune system, too,” according to WebMD, an online source of health information.

Marijuana contains tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a chemical compound responsible for the “high” feeling that pot smokers get from the drug.

“The amount of THC in marijuana has gone up in recent years,” noted WebMD. “Most leaves used to contain between 1 percent and 4 percent THC. Now most have closer to 7 percent. Experts worry this might make it easier to become dependent on or addicted to marijuana — and it also strengthens many of the drug’s mind-altering effects.”

“Nearly 10 percent of people who use it become dependent on it,” an article on the site also added.

Roughly one in eight adults smokes pot, according to a 2016 Gallup poll. For adults under the age of 30, almost one in five adults smokes marijuana.

“If you’re a man, heavy use could lower your testosterone levels, and your sperm count and quality,” WebMD cautioned.