THC Found in Colorado Town's Water Supply, Possibly from Tampering

Despite Colorado's prominence in the marijuana legalization movement, there are a few towns that are holdouts in the "legalize it" furor. Hugo is one of them,

The town does not allow dispensaries within its limit, which is why it's such a mystery how tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC – the psychoactive compound in marijuana – made it into the town's water supply.

Field tests of the town's water supply have yielded positive results for THC, Officer Michael Yowell of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said at a news conference Thursday.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI are assisting the Sheriff's office to determine the levels of concentration present in the water supply. Yowell said that they can't confirm whether the contamination was deliberate, but one of the five main wells that supplies the town's water was found to have been tampered with, he revealed. That well has been shut down, but testing shows that the entire water supply may have been contaminated.



Residents have been advised not to drink, shower or cook with the contaminated water, though the Colorado Department of Health suggested that it was fine for Hugo residents to shower and bathe, given the "short-term" nature of the exposure.

Worst-case effects would be similar to purposeful ingestion of THC, and the department has said that they do not expect any permanent, long-term effects. Bottled water is on its way as a relief measure.