A recently released study has outlined the drastic need for more precautions to stop children from accidentally ingesting cannabis. Parents and others securely storing weed-infused candy or other edibles that might appeal to kids may save them a trip to the local hospital.
On Tuesday, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a study in its peer-reviewed flagship journal detailing an alarming rise in incidents of children accidentally ingesting cannabis edibles, a 1,375 per cent increase between 2017-2021 to be exact.
Researchers collecting data for the study in the journal Pediatrics evaluated trends in accidental cannabis ingestion in children under the age of six throughout the U.S. Approximately 23 per cent of reported cases led to a child being hospitalized.
Nearly 1400% rise in children age 0-5yrs ingesting Cannabis edibles. Most of these happen at home and almost 1/4th of children are hospitalized.
Keep your edibles safe from kids! https://t.co/6r4sYcCbMp
— Miranda van Tilburg (@DrvanTilburg) January 4, 2023
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Statistics from the study were obtained from the National Poison Data System, there were a total of 7,043 incidents in the five-year time span and the vast majority of exposures occurred in a residential setting (about 98 per cent).
The dramatic rise in the number of children accidentally finding their way into mom and dad’s stash can be largely attributed to a rapidly increasing number of Americans with access to legal recreational cannabis. According to U.S. census data, the population with freely accessible adult-use bud increased by 95 per cent from about 69 million in 2017 to 134 million in 2021.
Photo via American Academy of Pediatrics
Other countries including Canada have also been seeing a rise in incidents of children accidentally chowing down on some potent cannabis brownies or something of the like. A 2019 study conducted by the Canadian Paediatric Society found there was a total of 16 serious adverse events involving accidental cannabis ingestion in a period of only four months in 2018.
“The number of cases involving young children is striking,” said Dr. Christina Grant, a paediatrician in Hamilton, Ontario and co-principal investigator of the study.
“These early results highlight the urgency of prioritizing the needs of children and youth in policy and education initiatives, especially as edibles become legalized later this year,” added Grant in 2019.
rowan@mugglehead.com
Pete
January 15, 2023 at 6:59 am
You would hope the commercial marijuana edibles companies would police themselves better, if it looks like candy, a kid is going to eat it