UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Pediatrics

Title: Unintentional pediatric marijuana exposures

Keywords: ingestion, drug overdose, marijuana (PubMed Search)

Posted: 5/17/2019 by Jenny Guyther, MD
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Washington state was one of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana use.  Toxicology call center data was collected on patient's 9 years old and younger with marijuana exposure between July 2010 and July 2016.  There were 161 cases during that time frame and of those 130 occurred after the legalization of recreational marijuana (over a 2.5 year period).  The median age range was 2 years old.  There were increasing cases noted after recreational marijuana was legalized and again after marijuana shops became legal.

References

Thomas et al.  Unintentional pediatric marijuana exposures prior to and after localization and commercial availability of recreational marijuana in Washington state.  J Emerg Med 2019 Mar 4.S0736-4679 (19).