Maureen Dowd chronicled her experience trying out a marijuana edible in Denver, Colo., in a recent article in which she reveals a trip filled with paranoia.

Maureen Dowd Has Bad Trip On Edibles

Dowd decided to pick up a pot candy bar and bring it back to her hotel room for research for her article called "Don't Harsh Our Mellow, Dude." She had a bite, and when she didn’t feel the desired effects, made the ill-advised decision to eat more of the candy bar – after having some chardonnay.

“But then I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. I barely made it from the desk to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours,” wrote Dowd for The New York Times. “I was thirsty but couldn’t move to get water. Or even turn off the lights. I was panting and paranoid.”

Dowd added, “I strained to remember where I was or even what I was wearing, touching my green corduroy jeans and staring at the exposed-brick wall. As my paranoia deepened, I became convinced that I had died and no one was telling me.”

The next day, a fully recovered Dowd spoke with a medical consultant at an edibles plant. The consultant informed her that the candy bar she consumed contained 16 servings for novice pot users.

Pot Regulation Work In Progress

In response to experiences such as Dowd, Colorado is looking to be as much of a trailblazer in pot regulation as it was in its legalization.

“There are way too many stories of people not understanding how much they’re eating,” said Andrew Freedman, the state’s director of marijuana coordination. “With liquor, people understand what they’re getting themselves into. But that doesn’t exist right now for edibles for new users in the market. It would behoove the industry to create a more pleasant experience for people.”

“The whole industry was set up for people who smoked frequently,” Freedman continued. “It needs to learn how to educate new users in the market. We have to create a culture of responsibility around edibles, so people know what to expect to feel.”

Internet Reacts To Dowd's Pot Experiment

While Dowd’s points are valid, many people on the Internet – including Zach Braff –have found ample room to poke fun and criticize Dowd’s investigative journalism. Among the many issues people had with her experimenting with the edible were her decision to try it out alone and failure to ask for advice before consuming it.