Colorado ERs, Poison Control See Spike In Cases Of Kids Exposed Marijuana: Report
Medical personnel had expected more such cases when the state legalized recreational use of the drug, but "we were not prepared for the dramatic increase,” according Dr. Genie E. Roosevelt, a the senior author of the study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
The Denver Post:
Kids’ Emergency Room Visits For Marijuana Increased In Colorado After Legalization, Study Finds
The study — led by a doctor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus — found that emergency room visits and poison-control calls for kids 9 and younger who consumed pot in Colorado jumped after recreational marijuana stores opened. About twice as many kids visited the Children’s Hospital Colorado emergency room per year in 2014 and 2015 as did in years prior to the opening of recreational marijuana stores, according to the study. Annual poison-control cases increased five-fold, the study found. (Ingold, 7/25)
The New York Times:
Study Finds Sharp Increase In Marijuana Exposure Among Colorado Children
To a child on the prowl for sweets, that brownie, cookie or bear-shaped candy left on the kitchen counter is just asking to be gobbled up. But in states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use, notably Colorado, that child may end up with more than a sugar high. A study published on Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics says that in Colorado the rates of marijuana exposure in young children, many of them toddlers, have increased 150 percent since 2014, when recreational marijuana products, like sweets, went on the market legally. (Hoffman, 7/25)
