Citing Joke, Annapolis Police Chief Testifies That Pot Killed 37 People on the First Day of Legalization in Colorado

Testifying against marijuana
legalization before the Maryland legislature today, Annapolis
Police Chief Michael Pristoop warned of the potentially lethal
consequences. “The first day of legalization, that’s when Colorado
experienced 37 deaths that day from overdose on marijuana,”
Pristoop
told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. “I remember the
first day it was decriminalized there were 37 deaths.”

As Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery) quickly pointed out, what
Pristoop actually remembered was a
joke story at The Daily Currant headlined
“Marijuana Overdoses Kill 37 in Colorado on First Day of
Legalization.” The article included a quote from “Peter Swindon,
president and CEO of local brewer MolsonCoors,” who supposedly
said: “We told everyone this would happen. Marijuana is a deadly
hardcore drug that causes addiction and destroys lives. When was
the last time you heard of someone overdosing on beer? All these
pro-marijuana groups should be ashamed of themselves. The victims’
blood is on their hands.”

Pristoop seemed taken aback that something he had seen in print
might not be the literal truth. “If it was a misquote,” he told
Raskin, “then I’ll stand behind the mistake. But I’m holding on to
information I was provided.”

[Thanks to Tom Angell of Marijuana Majority for the tip.]