URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n506/a04.html
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Wed, 27 Jul 2016
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2016 Sun-Times Media, LLC
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bf0vhqGQ
Website: http://www.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author: Ashley May, USA Today
COLO. KIDS ACCIDENTALLY INGESTING POT
Medical Study Shows 34% Rise in Cases of Pediatric Marijuana Exposure
As more Colorado adults become comfortable with marijuana in their homes, more young children are ingesting the drug, a new study reports.
The JAMA Pediatrics report notes Colorado saw an increase of pediatric marijuana cases by 34% annually, compared with 19% for the rest of the USA.
Coloradans are baking marijuana into chocolate chip cookies, brownies and pies and adding it to candy fruit chews and chocolate bars – all sweets that toddlers find irresistible. And, the edibles market is still in its infancy.
Kids stealing a cookie from the cookie jar aren’t finding themselves in timeout; they are waking up in a regional poison center.
Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora saw 163 marijuana exposure cases in children younger than 10 from 2009 to 2015. Most of the children were about 2, and 48% of the cases involved edibles. Some of those children needed intensive care, a serious reminder to keep marijuana-infused treats under lock and key.
“Almost half of the patients seen in the children’s hospital in the two years after legalization had exposures from recreational marijuana, suggesting that legalization did affect the incidence of exposures,” the study states.
Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia allow legalized recreational marijuana.
And 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized forms of medical marijuana, while an additional 14 have taken measures to decriminalize the drug.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom