Image: Adobe Stock.<\/i>
\u201cThe most serious symptoms associated with pediatric cannabis consumption are hypoventilation, unresponsiveness\/lethargy and seizure-like activity,\u201d Annamarie Fernandes, MD, FAAP, FACP, <\/b>assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Golisano Children\u2019s Hospital at the University of Rochester Medical Center, told Healio. \u201cThese symptoms are nonspecific and seen in other concerning conditions, such as sepsis, so they have required a broader medical workup with sometimes invasive tests such as bloodwork, lumbar puncture, CT of the head and an EEG until the toxicology reports have results.\u201d<\/p>\n
New York legalized cannabis for medical use in 2014 and recreational use in 2021, Fernandes noted. The law from 2021 addressed licensing of dispensaries, but it did not include provisions related to child-resistant packaging. Fernandes said legislators amended the law in 2023 to require child-resistant packaging, a visible THC symbol and a warning for children. The amendment also stated that packaging could not include cartoons, bright colors or other imagery that could be enticing to children.<\/p>\n
Fernandes and colleagues investigated whether the new packaging laws were linked with fewer pediatric ingestions. They gathered accidental cannabis intoxication records for 174 children (age range, 7 months to 10 years) that occurred between Jan. 1, 2010, and May 9, 2025, at a pediatric hospital in New York.<\/p>\n
Fernandes and colleagues did not see any accidental ingestions before medical cannabis was legalized in 2014. The bulk of them (86.5%) occurred after recreational cannabis was legalized in March 2021. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, there was only one accidental ingestion per year. There were 14 accidental ingestions per year in 2021 and 2022, and cases increased to 18 per year in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n
Notably, the researchers learned that 96% of the products involved in accidental ingestions were edible, kid-friendly items, including gummies, candies, chocolate and baked goods.<\/p>\n
According to the researchers, 50% of children were hospitalized, and 22% needed intensive care. Fernandes said it was particularly concerning that severity increased after the packaging law went into effect, compared with before (P <\/i>= .002).<\/p>\n
Fernandes said she was not surprised that accidental cannabis ingestions continued to rise after the packaging laws were enacted. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were interviews from police that felt they did not have enough authority based on the legislation,\u201d she said. \u201cIt seemed the content of the law was an improvement, but with over 8,000 unlicensed cannabis shops in New York City alone, the enforcement plan was not detailed enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
To prevent accidental ingestions, Fernandes suggested selling products in child-resistant packaging similar to medications, including larger THC content labels and giving more authority to law enforcement to impose fines or make arrests in unlicensed dispensaries.<\/p>\n
Pediatricians already discuss cannabis storage with their patients\u2019 caregivers, but Fernandes said it could help if internal medicine physicians also talk to their patients about locking up cannabis products.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of our patients resided in a home with reported household cannabis consumption, but a portion of the ingestions reported only cannabis use from family friends or relatives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For more information:<\/h2>\n Annamarie Fernandes, MD, FAAP, FACP,<\/b> can be reached at pediatrics@healio.com.<\/p>\n\n
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Sources\/Disclosures<\/h3>\n Source: <\/h2>\n Fernandes A, et al. Poster 226. Have New York State Packaging Laws Prevented Tots from Getting into Pot? Presented at: Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting; April 24-28; Boston.<\/p>\n
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