Increasingly, states around the country are considering legalizing marijuana for medical use and even recreational use. While advocates for such legislative change argue that legalization is not designed to promote teen use, consideration is not given to how increased prevalence of marijuana use might lead to increased unintentional intoxications in young children. Claudet et al. (10.1542/peds.2017-0017) opted to look at unintentional intoxications in toddlers over an 11-year period (2004-2014) in France in a study we are early releasing this week. The authors gather data from a retrospective multicenter observational study of all children less than 6 years admitted to one of 24 tertiary pediatric emergency departments for cannabis intoxication proven by having compatible symptoms and positive toxicology screening.
Sadly, of the 235 children reported, 71% were children 18 months old or younger and the rate of admissions over the 11 years studied increased significantly. When compared to other admissions for a poison ingestion, cannabis admissions were higher and severity of symptoms more concerning with an increased incidence of comas occurring in these children exposed to cannabis. As adults use more and more marijuana in the home, whether legal or not, one cannot ignore the secondary impact on young children when making state legislative decisions in this country. We hope this study will be combined with others that our journal and others have published (and that we will continue to publish) demonstrating the risks to children and teens that come with legalization of recreational marijuana. Read this article and see what we mean.
