The Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program said between September and December of last year, there were 16 cases of “serious adverse events” in children and teenagers caused by REC. All cases required critical care, though the data was split between 10 children who accidentally consumed cannabis-infused products, and six cases of “intentional exposure” in which teenagers consuming cannabis had too much. Globe and Mail, CBC Health
- Degrassi-star-turned-public-health-policy-wonk Rebecca Haines-Saah said people retweeting stories of cannabis-related hospitalizations of children because they believe they confirm their prohibitionist bias “would benefit from understanding what this data means through a population health lens; ‘significant’ and ‘striking’ require epidemiological context.”
- She noted a numerically significant increase doesn’t always mean a public health threat, which can’t be determined without a baseline, population, and the incidence rate of the total population at risk.
CTV News, Twitter
“While the numbers may be higher, to understand if we are now seeing an elevated risk of poisonings post-legalization this needs to be calculated as a population-level risk, not just ‘there are more than there were before,'” Haines-Saah argued. “For example, in Colorado there were reports that peds poisonings ‘increased 5 fold’ post-legalization. Yet this was an increase of 38 cases over 6 years FOR THE ENTIRE STATE. Again, a significant number, but is this meaningful at the population level? Or for health services?” Twitter
- Epidemiology scholar Stephanie Lake noted it is “important to remember this represents a change from 0.008% –> 0.026% of ALL hospital visits in that age group. Something to look for? Yes. [Public] health crisis? No.”
Twitter - One of the study’s lead investigators, Dr. Richard Bélanger, said “This is a small number.”
The Leaf - The main causes of pediatric poisonings, Haines-Saah stressed, are laundry pods, wiper fluid, and OTC medication. The Globe‘s André Picard referred to a study in Clinical Pediatrics that found children visit the ER after consuming cosmetics every two hours in the United States.
Twitter, Clinical Pediatrics
Quick Hits
- The demographic group increasing cannabis use more than anyone else is middle-aged men, followed by middle-aged women.
Global News - Federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said if his party wins power in October, they will not recriminalize cannabis, and “we do support the idea of people having [cannabis possession] records pardoned.”
CTV News - Fat-activist and women-in-weed advocate Amanda Scriver challenged the “judgmental, all-or-nothing” attitude many cannabis enthusiasts express toward those who use prescription medication.
Healthline
