Pediatric cannabis exposures jumped more than 6,000% among U.S. children younger than 6 between 2009 and 2024, according to a study published June 26 in the Journal of Addiction Medicine.
Researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria conducted a retrospective descriptive time-trend analysis using annual data from the National Poison Data System, which includes reports from 53 accredited U.S. poison centers.
The study examined pediatric cannabis exposures from 2000 through 2024 among children younger than 6 and those ages 6-12. Researchers excluded cannabidiol from the analysis because it is generally considered nonpsychoactive, and excluded pharmaceutical cannabis preparations and synthetic cannabinoids because those products were not directly affected by the federal policy changes examined.
Here are five things to know:
- Pediatric cannabis exposures surged after 2009. Reported cannabis exposures among children younger than 6 increased 6,386%, rising from 132 cases in 2009 to 8,430 in 2024. Among children ages 6-12, exposures increased 13,781%, from 21 to 2,894 cases.
- The increase coincided with federal cannabis policy changes. Researchers said the rise in pediatric exposures was temporally associated with the 2009 Ogden Memorandum, the 2013 Cole Memorandum and the 2018 Farm Bill, which expanded access to hemp-derived cannabinoid products.
- Exposures were relatively stable before 2010. Annual cannabis exposures among children younger than 6 ranged from 108 to 141 cases between 2000 and 2009 before increasing consistently through 2024.
- Edible products account for most severe pediatric cases. The study notes oral ingestion causes most cannabis exposures in young children, and prior research has found nearly all severe cannabis toxicity hospitalizations among children younger than 10 in the U.S. and Canada involve edible products.
- Researchers called for additional safeguards. They recommended regulating hemp-derived cannabinoid products, improving child-resistant packaging, limiting THC in edible products and further investigating the causes of rising pediatric exposures.
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