US poison control centers experienced a significant increase in marijuana-related calls between 2017 and 2019, according to a new research letter published Monday in the journal JAMA.
“Our findings document that US poison centers are increasingly receiving calls about adverse events associated with exposures to manufactured cannabis products,” the report’s authors wrote.
The researchers are placing the blame on legalization efforts in a growing number of states, including New York.
“Higher rates in legal states suggest that continued increases may be expected with adult cannabis use legalization in more states,” the scientists wrote.
Of the 28,630 people who called US poison centers between January 2017 and December 2019 to report having consumed too much reefer, the majority had too much flower (65.5%), followed by edibles (19.3%), then concentrates (9.6 percent), vaporized liquids (3.8%) and finally other manufactured products (1.8 percent), according to the National Poison Data System.
More than half of all calls were made from a health-care facility, although calls regarding manufactured products were twice as likely to come from a residence.
The majority of calls concerned adults who were too high, but 27% of cases involved children under 10 years old. In most cases involving kids, the marijuana had been consumed as a manufactured product.
“Children may be at particular risk for exposure to edible products, such as cookies or candy,” researchers noted.
In addition to suggesting “ongoing monitoring” of adverse reactions to manufactured marijuana products, the researchers concluded their piece with some age-old advice: “Novice cannabis users are often advised to ‘start low, go slow,’ ” they wrote. “This guidance may be equally applicable to regulating new retail cannabis markets and products.”
Other reports from past years have also noted a surge in marijuana-related poison control calls. In Michigan, calls increased from just six in all of 2017 to 59 as of September 2019 regarding children eating edibles, Fox reported at the time.
Culled from the Newyork Post
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