Citation

Hall W, Stjepanović D. Addiction 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

The University of Queensland Centre for Youth Substance Research, St Lucia, QLD, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/add.15064

PMID

32311188

Abstract

Shi & Laing's analysis of poison centre calls adds to evidence from emergency department presentations that legalization of retail cannabis sales has increased the rate of acute adverse effects of cannabis. These effects include: increased accidental ingestions of cannabis products (gummies and extracts) by children; unpleasant psychological experiences in adults receiving larger than intended doses of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC); and a new syndrome, cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, in heavy daily cannabis users.

One of the major concerns of those who oppose cannabis legalization in the United States is that it will increase cannabis‐related harm, such as acute adverse effects of intoxication. Shi & Liang assess these concerns by comparing trends in calls to the US National Poison Data System between 2010 and 2017 in US states that either did or did not (i) legalize cannabis use and (ii) legalize retail sales of cannabis [1]. They found that legalizing cannabis use did not increase the number of calls, whereas the legalization of commercial cannabis sales did. Their findings were not affected by the choice of states with which to compare legalization states; different ways of coding the timing of these policy changes; and state differences in confounding demographic characteristics.

Data on calls to poison centres have a number of limitations in measuring acute cannabis related harms ...

Language: en

Keywords

Acute adverse effects; anxiety; cannabis legalization; hyperemesis; poison centre calls; psychosis