Pediatric cannabis poisoning increased with edible cannabis sales

Following cannabis legalization in Canada, provinces that permitted edible cannabis sales experienced much larger increases in hospitalizations for unintentional pediatric poisoning, according to a study published online Jan. 13 in JAMA Health Forum.

Daniel T. Myran, M.D., M.P.H., from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute in Ontario, Canada, and colleagues examined changes in the proportions of all-cause hospitalizations for poisoning due to cannabis in children during three legalization periods: prelegalization (January 2015 to September 2018); legalization of dried flowers only in all provinces (period 1: October 2018 to December 2019); and legalization of all edibles in three provinces and restriction in one province (exposed and control provinces; period 2: January 2020 to September 2021).

The researchers found that the rate of all-cause poisoning hospitalizations due to cannabis poisoning was 57.42 and 38.50 per 1,000 in the exposed and control provinces, respectively, before legalization.

During period 1, there was an increase observed in the rate of poisoning hospitalizations to 149.71 and 117.52 per 1,000 in the exposed and control provinces, respectively (incidence rate ratios [95 percent confidence intervals], 2.55 [1.88 to 3.46] and 3.05 [1.82 to 5.11], respectively).

During period 2, there was a more than twofold increase seen in the rate of poisoning hospitalizations due to cannabis in the exposed provinces, while the rate remained stable in the control province (318.04 versus 137.93 per 1,000; incidence rate ratios [95 percent confidence intervals], 2.16 [1.68 to 2.80] and 1.18 [0.71 to 1.97], respectively).

"Placing restrictions on the sale of visually attractive and palatable commercial cannabis edibles is a key strategy and policy consideration for preventing unintentional pediatric cannabis poisonings for the U.S. and other countries considering legalization of recreational cannabis," the authors write.