SickKids study: Legalizing recreational weed associated with higher rates of severe intoxications in children

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Summary

The hike in severe intoxications from cannabis was “primarily due to exposure of young children to cannabis edibles, which have become increasingly accessible and popular,” the statement notes. Researchers at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) reviewed cannabis-related poisonings among children and found that severe intoxications rose sharply in the periods just before and after recreational weed was legalized. Overall, 65.9 per cent of patients presented with respiratory involvement during the peri-post period compared to 50.9 per cent before legalization. In all, 12.1 per cent of this group went to the ED during the peri-post period compared to 3.0 per cent pre-legalization. With regard to severe illness, three times more children were admitted to the ICU in the peri-post legalization period, namely 13.6 per cent compared to the 4.7 per cent pre-legalization.

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Researchers at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) reviewed cannabis-related poisonings among children and found that severe intoxications rose sharply in the periods just before and after recreational weed was legalized.

Published online last week in Clinical Toxicology, the study identified “significantly higher rates of intensive care admission and more severe presentations to the SickKids Emergency Department (ED) for unintentional cannabis poisonings,” the...

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