Dennis RomeroMedical marijuana might have endowed your life with many benefits, not the least of which is no longer having to call for delivery from a dealer named Murder.
But in places where it's quite easy to get, children can get their hands on it too. That, at least, is according to study from the University of Colorado Denver released over the weekend:
The researchers there say the “relaxation” of marijuana laws have correlated with an increase in children being treated for ingesting marijuana, including such pot products as “edibles” and beverages.
The number of children under 12 seen in local emergency rooms for eating cannabis before Colorado loosened up its pot laws in 2009 was zero.
That number jumped to 14 just afterward, with a majority of those patients having consumed “marijuana food products,” researchers said.
Credit: Dank Depot / Flickr
Okay, not a huge “surge,” but alarming, because some ERs apparently don't have much experience dealing with kids and high-grade pot, the academics say.
What do they want? Child-resistant packaging for edibles.
George Wang, the study's lead author:
As more states move to legalize marijuana this problem is only going to increase. Now is the time to be proactive and intervene.
You ready to push-and-turn just to get your weed?
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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