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Watch: Bear’s Failed Attempt To Burglarize Marijuana Dumpster Proves Regulations Work

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A bear in Lyons, Colorado tried and failed to break into a dumpster behind a marijuana dispensary last week—inadvertently making a strong case for the efficacy of the state’s cannabis regulations.

Because the dumpster is bear-resistant, the would-be trash bandit couldn’t get his paws on the goods after repeated attempts. Security footage shows the bear pushing the dumpster down the alley until it ultimately gave up.

The incident represents a success for marijuana regulations. Retail dispensaries are required by law to keep cannabis waste in “a secured waste receptacle in possession and control of the Licensee.” While the point of the policy is to prevent marijuana from being diverted to the unregulated market, it evidently serves another function in bear country.

Regulators in Alaska take similar requirements seriously, with regulators there moving to strip the license of one Anchorage cultivation facility last year after smokable marijuana was discovered outside its garbage container.

As far as Colorado Parks and Wildlife is concerned, video of the struggling bear simply demonstrates the need to secure all trash cans with bear-resistant locks.

“The bear-proofing worked,” Daniel Didion, a manager at The Bud Depot, told The Denver Channel. “He just hauled it out and danced around with it.”

The bear was probably more interested in munchies than marijuana, and Didion noted that a nearby dumpster belongs to a Mexican food restaurant. But even if it had been looking for cannabis, Colorado law further requires marijuana facilities to render cannabis waste “unusable and unrecognizable” by grinding and mixing it with “non-consumable, solid wastes.”

For what it’s worth, a bear expert published a column in 2011 arguing that bears could theoretically be attracted to the small of marijuana, noting that “many strains of dried and processed pot often possess an even stronger, more intense fragrance.” That said, “there aren’t very many case studies” on the subject.

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Photo courtesy of CPW.

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Kyle Jaeger is Marijuana Moment's Sacramento-based managing editor. His work has also appeared in High Times, VICE and attn.

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