Accidental Consumption of Marijuana Edibles Surges Among Children, Study Finds

The accidental consumption of marijuana edibles, such as brownies and gummies, among children under the age of 6 has surged in recent years as more states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, a new study found.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, analyzed reports of child exposure to edibles from 2017 to 2021. The authors concluded that there had been a “consistent increase in pediatric edible cannabis exposures over the past five years, with the potential for significant toxicity.”

In 2020, pediatric cases of edible marijuana ingestion accounted for more than 40 percent of all human poison exposures reported that year, according to the study, which relied on statistics from the National Poison Data System.

“These exposures can cause significant toxicity and are responsible for an increasing number of hospitalizations,” the authors wrote.

In total, there were 7,043 exposures to edible marijuana reported to poison control from 2017 to 2021 in children under six, and cases rose 1,375 percent over that period, the study found. In virtually all of them, the edibles were ingested in a residential setting. About 90 percent of the cases originated from the child’s home, the study said.

The study found that 22.7 percent of exposed children needed hospitalization, and 8 percent of them – 573 children over the five years of the study – needed critical care.

The study found an increase in “acute toxicity” associated with such cases since the beginning of the pandemic, “as indicated by increasing critical care admissions, more patients admitted to noncritical care beds,” and fewer patients being treated in emergency departments.

The most frequent health outcome children experienced was central nervous system depression. Symptoms include drowsiness, lowered blood pressure, and slurred speech, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Andrew Monte, an emergency medicine doctor at University of Colorado Hospital, urges parents who suspect their child ate an edible to take the child to a doctor right away.

"There are some patients that actually have airway obstruction and need to be in the ICU or put on a ventilator," says Monte, who was not involved in the study. Monte says he and his colleagues see these cases in their emergency department several times a month.

The authors offered several possible explanations for the increase in cases, including more time spent at home during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools and day care centers were shuttered, and the greater availability of legal marijuana products over the last decade. They also noted that many edible marijuana products are “offered in brightly colored, enticing packaging that is identical in style to how candy and snack products are marketed,” contributing to their appeal among young children.

Dr. Nora Volkow, who directs the National Institute on Drug Abuse, says the study's findings are concerning. "It's not just the issue that there are more poisonings of children consuming cannabis, but those consumptions appear to be more serious," says Volkow.

The study should also draw attention to how marijuana edibles are packaged and marketed, Volkow says. "If you've ever been curious, go to a dispensary or a store where they sell cannabis products, which of course, me being a curious person, I've done," Volkow says. "And the edibles are extremely appealing, in terms of packaging." She says parents and caregivers who consume edible cannabis products should store them in child-proof containers and keep them out of the reach of children.

Several studies conducted in recent years analyzing pediatric emergency care visits and reports to regional poison centers have found an uptick in accidental consumption of marijuana edibles by young people in states such as Massachusetts and Colorado, which were among the first to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

Some states have taken measures to reduce child exposure, passing laws mandating childproof packaging for marijuana products. In Colorado, for example, edible marijuana cannot be sold in the shape of fruits, animals, or humans. j