Marijuana overdoses kill 37 in Colorado':
Scores duped by satirical website Many were left fooled by The Daily
Currant's claim that dozens died on first
day the drug could be legally bought for
recreational use from shops in the state Marijuana and cannabis-infused products on
display in Denver, Colorado, where it became
legal for the drug to be sold for recreational use
in shops By TOMAS JIVANDA Saturday 04 January 2014 A satirical website managed to fool a number of
social media users into thinking 37 people had
died from smoking marijuana in Colorado on 1
January - the day it became legal for anyone to
buy the drug from licensed shops in the state. “Colorado is reconsidering its decision to legalize
recreational pot following the deaths of dozens
due to marijuana overdoses,” The Daily Currant announced, as news broke that residents had
spent $1 million on recreational marijuana in the
state on New Years Day. The hoax added: “According to a report in the Rocky Mountain News, 37 people were killed across the state on Jan. 1, the first day the drug
became legal for all adults to purchase. Several
more are clinging onto life in local emergency
rooms and are not expected to survive.” Opponents of the law quickly jumped on the
story, believing that the story was indeed based
on an actual report by the excellently named real
life Rocky Mountain News outlet. Jedidiah Timm wrote on Twitter: “Colorado
legalized marijuana use. First day, 37 deaths. Gee
aren't you liberals smart?” Matt Vargo tweeted: “Colorado had 37 deaths
from Marijuana over dose on the 1st day of it
being legal. Good job, that sure was a great idea
on making pot legal.” Others meanwhile simply expressed shock that
people can die from overdosing on marijuana
(you can’t), with one man devoting an entire two
and a half minute Youtube video to conveying his
disbelief. The Daily Currant article went onto quote the fictitious Dr. Jack Shepard, 'chief of surgery at St.
Luke's Medical Center in Denver': "It's complete
chaos here. I've put five college students in body
bags since breakfast and more are arriving every
minute," the made-up doctor is reported as
saying. "We are seeing cardiac arrests, hypospadias,
acquired trimethylaminuria and multiple organ
failures," the quote continued. "By next week the
death toll could go as high as 200, maybe 300.
Someone needs to step in and stop this madness.
My god, why did we legalize marijuana? What were we thinking?" Hypospadias is a birth defect affecting the penis
while trimethylaminuria is a rare metabolic
disorder also known as fish odor syndrome. Like Rocky Mountain News, St. Luke’s Medical Center is also a real place, which was prompted
to issue a statement reassuring people that that
article was not real. “There is no such doctor as 'Jack Shepard' on our
medical staff and that there have been no deaths
due to marijuana at our hospital,” the centre said
in a statement, ABC News reports. Just in case the article was a little too believable, The Daily Currant even slotted in a Breaking Bad reference, naming one of the victims as Jesse Bruce Pinkman - “a former methamphetamine
dealer from Albuquerque who had recently
moved to Boulder to establish a legal marijuana
dispensary”.