DENVER — A new campaign using billboards around metro Denver urges parents to keep their marijuana edibles away from children by locking up the pot-infused food.
The campaign is sponsored by the marijuana industry itself.
An up-tick in child marijuana overdoses prompted the move.
The message tells adults to keep marijuana-infused treats out of reach of children because a pot cookie just looks like a plain, old cookie in the eyes of a child.
“Kids don’t understand … if they see a cookie laying around they’re going to eat the entire cookie so it is one of our biggest concerns,” says Dr. Michael DiStefano of Children’s Hospital.
“We encourage adults to lock up their liquor cabinets and insure their kids can’t reach it and we want adults to do the same with marijuana,” says Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Mason Tvert.
The billboards will also be going up in Washington State, where recreational marijuana is also legal.
There are new regulations for edibles going into effect in Colorado in February 2015.