Water contaminated with pot chemicals in small Colorado town

Bottled water is being distributed to residents of the small Colorado town of Hugo as officials investigate the possibility that a marijuana chemical has contaminated the water supply.

Officials announced Thursday that some field tests had found THC, marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient, in the water, but they were awaiting the results of more definitive laboratory tests Friday.

State health officials say it’s too soon to know whether THC in the water would intoxicate people who drink it. Residents have been warned not to use it for now.

THC commonly must be heated to have an intoxicating effect and that’s why weed is commonly smoked or burned in oil, not eaten raw.

Commercial marijuana cultivation, product manufacturing, testing facilities and pot stores are banned in Hugo, about 100 miles southeast of Denver.