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No Second Hand Tokes

BOULDER -- While the legalization of marijuana for recreation use in Colorado brought out long lines of shoppers flocking from across the country to the modern world's first fully legal marijuana industry, less than a week later, it has also brought out that industry's first legal challenge.

Dr. Alfred Carroll filed suit in Boulder County Court, claiming damages from "second hand tokes."

"Wow, man, you mean I'm gonna have to stand out in the cold with the tobacco wheezers?" asked weed enthusiast Perry Coleman. "Come on, man, it's cold out there. What a buzz kill."

Carroll's brief claims that exposure to second-hand smoke causes disease, disability, and death and that the health risks of passive smoking are a matter of scientific consensus.

"The medical community, the courts and legislative bodies across this great country have spoken out loud and clear on the dangers of second-hand smoke," said Carroll's attorney Steve Dallas. "Now, though, we are also confronted with the legal liabilities of involuntary intoxication."

"Everything had been going pretty smoothly," said Barbara Brohl, Colorado's top marijuana regulator as head of the Department of Revenue. "But, I guess we didn't see that one coming."

The suit calls for restrictions on when and where pot can be consumed, as well as graphic warning labels on marijuana packs. Carroll is demanding unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

"Now that 'Big Weed' has come out of the shadows," said Dallas, "they are fair game -- just like the Marlboro Man."

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