JACKSON, Wyo. — With Colorado and Washington now legalizing marijuana, and others thinking about it, an obvious question is just how healthy it really is.
Doctors contacted by the Jackson Hole News&Guide take a dim view. Why would you voluntarily put smoke in your lungs, one asks? You know it doesn't belong there. Coughing is a sign of that.
Studies have shown that long-term smoking of marijuana is associated with symptoms of obstructive lung disease.
How about cancer? A 2006 review of literature found no link between pot smoking and cancer, but the authors mention a "biological plausibility."
Torching up before the start of an outdoor adventure is common with many mountain bikers, skiers and others. Is there any harm in that?
Not a good idea, said Dr. Will Smith, an emergency medical specialist and medical director for Grand Teton National Park. When high, people aren't thinking as clearly as usual and don't always react normally.
"It's definitely one of those things I'd advise against," he said. "I'd avoid alcohol or any other drugs when you're out in the wilderness as well as driving or any work activities where you rely on decision making."
That said, he was unaware of any studies linking the use of marijuana to mountain accidents, the News&Guide notes.
OK, so how about marijuana's reputation for causing those smoking it to lose their focus and become forgetful. There, the documentation is clearer, although the exact cause is not.
"Heavy users displayed significantly greater impairment than light users on attentional/executive functions," researchers wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Effects linger even after a day of abstinence.
How about effects of pot use on those who are young and those who have long used it but are now getting old?
Not any evidence of it contributing to dementia or Alzheimer's, doctors tell the News&Guide. But as for youngsters — the picture is becoming clearer that adolescent smoking can produce wobbly brains.
"Evidence is mounting that regular marijuana use increases the chance that a teenager will develop psychosis, a pattern of unusual thoughts or perceptions, such as believing the television is transmitting secret messages," said Ann MacDonald, editor of Harvard Health.
"It also increases the risk of developing schizophrenia, a disabling brain disorder that not only causes psychosis, but also problems concentrating and loss of emotional expression."
Scam artist targets the wrong guy this time
ASPEN, Colo. — A con artist may have had some success as he called people in the Aspen, Vail and Glenwood Springs area, but he came up short when he called a number in Aspen.
His pitch was to tell people that there were warrants for their arrests, that he was with the local sheriff's department, and that they needed to provide their debit and credit card numbers to resolve the issue.
The Aspen Daily News reports that one local man, who works with the local sheriff's department, got the call. He asked his accuser/inquisitor why, if he was with the local sheriff's department, the caller-ID showed the phone call was being made from the Front Range of Colorado?
That flustered the ID-stealing con artist, who then regained his composure and demanded: "How dare you question my authority?"
That, too, was a giveaway. The Pitkin County Sheriff's Department, notes the Daily News, is known for its relaxed demeanor.
Aspen Skiing Company sees good money in foreigners
ASPEN, Colo. — International guests already comprise 20 to 25 per cent of business for the Aspen Skiing Company, but chief executive Mike Kaplan sees "huge opportunity" for growth.
To that end, he suggested that the people with the ability to speak foreign languages — Portuguese for Brazilians, Spanish for Mexicans, and perhaps even Mandarin — be stationed in the receiving line of the local airport as those guests arrive.
The Aspen Times explains that the resort company meets annually with the Aspen City Council to lay out the company's goals.
Another top goal is to make more hay while the summer sun shines. The company has already invested $30 million in improving summer activities at Snowmass, but Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk lag far behind. David Corbin, vice president of planning and development, asked that the city and Pitkin County help improve the valley as a summer destination.
Lodging is also on the local honey-do list. Rooms available for rent have decreased substantially since the 1990s, and the company would like to see more rooms built. Several years ago it purchased a post-World War II property called the Limelight Lodge and upgraded it. It also supports new hotel rooms at the base of the ski area, but developers and the city council have never been able to agree on how high is too high and how big is too big.
The company operates the four local ski areas plus 13 restaurants and three hotels.
A few barrels of cash for this property sale
SNOWMASS VILLAGE, Colo. — Maybe you wonder, too: If this sale was consummated in cash, how many barrels of C-notes would you need to take title of the prime properties in the Wildcat Ranch?
The Aspen Times reports that the property, first owned by the actor Mike Douglas, has been sold for $44 million. That includes a 223-square-metre (2,400 square feet) house, a two-bedroom guest house, a barn and views, views, views!
It was the biggest real estate sale in the Aspen area since a $46 million ranch sale in 2004, although Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan sold his Aspen-area castle for $43 million in 2012 and also, in a related but separate transaction, another property for $8 million.
Steamboat says treat pot sales just like liquor
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Steamboat city officials have now drawn up rules for sales of recreational marijuana, banning outlets from the base of the ski area and from the old downtown district.
The local newspaper, The Steamboat Pilot & Today, notes that it opposed the amendment to Colorado's constitution that authorizes manufacture, sale and possession of marijuana – but now that this cow is out of the bar, it should be regulated parallel to sales of liquor.
"The city council is regulating marijuana shops as though they are selling pharmaceuticals, even though voters approved marijuana as a recreational drug like alcohol. We encourage the city council to revisit their marijuana regulations at a future date and bring those rules more in line with those that govern the sale of alcohol," says the newspaper in an editorial.
China rules affect recycling revenues
KETCHUM, Idaho – When a butterfly flaps its wings in China, it can affect the weather in the Rockies. Consider the drop in revenues from recycled items such as cardboard.
Char Nelson, operations director for Idaho's Blaine County, explains that the average price for materials has dropped from $118 per ton last year to $94 this year. The drop is due to less demand for recycled materials in China. Part of that demand reduction comes from new restrictions in China on contaminants in batches of recycled items.
That policy, explains the Idaho Mountain Express, has hit single-stream recycled materials especially hard. In single-stream recycling, all recycled products are tossed into one big bin and are later sorted. Single-stream is easier at curbside and in the kitchen, because you don't have to keep items separate. But it makes recycling altogether less lucrative.
The upshot is that the recycling program serving the Ketchum-Sun Valley area requires a subsidy of $90,000 per year.
Hooping and whooping it on top of a mountain
JACKSON, Wyo. — Some people like to hoop it up, as in basketball. But Ryan Mertaugh, a 26-year-old substitute teacher, has another quest: to Hula-Hoop atop the eight central peaks of the Teton Range.
"A lot of people are in the mountains for the right reason," he tells the Jackson Hole News&Guide. "But a few could benefit from lightening up a little bit and getting back to the fun.
"I want to hoop to help show that," he aded. "We're up there to have a good time."
"Mountain tops are to be celebrated on," said mountaineer and author David Gonzales. "You can take it seriously on the way up and seriously on the way down, but the summit's the place you can let your flag fly."
Others have let their flags fly, so to speak, in various ways: Driving golf balls off the summit has happened occasionally. Some have taken cans of Pringles potato chips.
And you have to wonder whether some mountaineering couple didn't decide to enjoy a more exotic twist altogether to this matter of hooping it up on top. You could say whoopee-ing it up.
But if both are on top, how could...
Well, never mind.
