The Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics has published a study showing that hospital visits for Colorado children exposed to marijuana has "increased significantly" -- although the numbers are still small -- and that Colorado cases are increasing at a faster rate than elsewhere in the nation.
"The number of children’s hospital visits and RPC case rates for marijuana exposures increased between the 2 years prior to and the 2 years after legalization. Almost half of the patients seen in the children’s hospital in the 2 years after legalization had exposures from recreational marijuana, suggesting that legalization did affect the incidence of exposures."
The study followed regional poison center cases and hospital admissions at Children's Hospital Colorado of children under 10 years old.
"Colorado had an average increase in RPC cases of 34% per year while the remainder of the United States had an increase of 19%. For 10 exposure scenarios (9%), the product was not in a child-resistant container; for an additional 40 scenarios (34%), poor child supervision or product storage was reported. Edible products were responsible for 51 exposures (52%)."
