High Society

There's no neeD To visit New York to hear the impressive speakers that the Chautauqua Institution is known for. For the ninth year, Chautauqua-in-Chagrin hosts panels throughout the summer, including Denver police Cmdr. William Nagle July 21 at the Federated Church. With his city legalizing marijuana in 2014, he knows the topics that cloud the issue. Here's some of what he's learned.

The Cure-all ⟹ Legalizing marijuana, both recreational and medicinal, won't solve the drug crisis. "The marijuana lobby will tell you that heroin and other drugs will fall by the wayside," says Nagle. "Our experience is that taking substances becomes less onerous
because people think it's OK, and all drugs increase."

Deceptive packaging ⟹ After recreational legalization, a secondary market for edibles ­­— marijuana-laced food — developed in Denver, some with packaging that resembles regular food. To protect children, rules about packaging are important. "If you have kids that can't read, they may not know," says Nagle.

New testing ⟹ With no Breathalyzer equivalent, marijuana is harder to test for than alcohol. To determine if someone is under the influence while driving in Denver — more than 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood — the options are summoning a drug recognition expert to the scene or a saliva test, at $17 per test. "We don't really have a good field test," says Nagle.