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Not Concerned About Teen Patients Using Synthetic Cannabinoids? This Study of Their Toxicity Will Make That Happen! :

July 8, 2019

With the rise in legalization of recreational marijuana, there has also been an increase in more powerful synthetic cannabinoid (SC) products—chemical derivatives of plant-grown marijuana that bind to the same receptors as plant grown marijuana but with more potent effects, some quite serious.

With the rise in legalization of recreational marijuana, there has also been an increase in more powerful synthetic cannabinoid (SC) products—chemical derivatives of plant-grown marijuana that bind to the same receptors as plant grown marijuana but with more potent effects, some quite serious. Teens are the largest group presenting to emergency departments with neurotoxicity from these agents—but just how commonly do these acute side effects present?  To answer that question, Anderson et al. (10.1542/peds.2018-2690) looked at data from poison centers for emergency department visits for acute synthetic cannabinoids or plant cannabis exposures to see if SC toxicity events were worse than traditional plant marijuana toxicity.  Teens with SC-only exposure had high odds of coma and central nervous system depression as well as of seizures than those who presented with plant cannabis-only toxicity. They also looked at teens who added other drugs to their use of SC or plant cannabis and found similarly that odds of neurotoxicity were significantly higher even when comparable polydrug use was being tried with the SC or plant cannabis product.  To find out just how these teens presented and what was most commonly co-ingested, as well as to learn more about the SC products being used by adolescents, smoke out the information in this timely article. Better yet, after reading it, share what you learned with your teen patients so they are less apt to want to try SC products if offered to them.

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