{"id":794182,"date":"2019-03-26T08:42:54","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T14:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=363509"},"modified":"2019-03-26T08:42:54","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T14:42:54","slug":"marijuana-er-visits-climb-in-denver-hospital-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/marijuana-er-visits-climb-in-denver-hospital-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana ER visits climb in Denver hospital study"},"content":{"rendered":"
This Thursday, June 2, 2016 file photo shows lime-flavored cannabis-infused gummy candy in Portland, Ore., on the first day recreational marijuana users could legally purchase marijuana edibles and oils in the state. A study shows marijuana is sending more people to the emergency room in one large Denver hospital. Inhaled weed caused the most severe problems. Marijuana-infused foods and candies also led to trouble.<\/strong>
AP Photos \/ Gillian Flaccus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Five years after Colorado first legalized marijuana, a new study shows pot\u2019s bad effects are sending more people to the emergency room.<\/p>\n

Inhaled marijuana caused the most severe problems at one large Denver area hospital. Marijuana-infused foods and candies, called edibles, also led to trouble. Patients came to the ER with symptoms such as repeated vomiting, racing hearts and psychotic episodes.<\/p>\n

The study, published Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine, stemmed from tales of tourists needing emergency care after gobbling too many marijuana gummies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard to know if these were just anecdotes or if there was a true phenomenon,\u201d said lead author Dr. Andrew Monte of UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital.<\/p>\n

Three deaths in Colorado tied to edible products also prompted the study.<\/p>\n

Emergency room records from Monte\u2019s hospital show a three-fold increase in marijuana cases since the state became the first to allow sales of recreational marijuana in January 2014. Nearly a third of patients were admitted to the hospital, evidence of severe symptoms, Monte said.<\/p>\n

In 2012, the ER saw an average of one patient every other day with a marijuana-caused problem. By 2016, the count was two to three per day.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not enough to swamp the emergency department, Monte said, but it stresses an already burdened system.<\/p>\n

Most people can use marijuana safely, Monte said, but with its increased availability and higher THC concentrations, \u201cwe may be seeing more adverse drug reactions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

THC is the part of marijuana that gets people high.<\/p>\n

A growing cannabis industry promotes the drug as a cure-all while downplaying dangers, said Dr. Erik Messamore, a psychiatrist at Northeast Ohio Medical University who wasn\u2019t involved in the research. More than 30 states now allow marijuana for at least medical use. New Jersey is debating becoming the 11th state to approve recreational pot. The U.S. government considers marijuana illegal.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t trust the people who sell the drugs to be upfront with the risk,\u201d Messamore said, calling for warning labels similar to those on tobacco products.<\/p>\n

The analysis confirmed edibles are trouble. Statewide, they made up less than 1 percent of total cannabis sales, measured by THC content. Yet 11 percent of ER visits were triggered by edibles.<\/p>\n

Monte said edibles are too dangerous to be part of the recreational marketplace. Slow to kick in, their effects last too long for a good party drug, he said. They work better for those who want to use them as medicine.<\/p>\n

Yet information on safe dosing is lacking, as Denver resident Arlene Galchinsky learned. She took a marijuana gummy for pain on top of a prescription narcotic, becoming so disoriented her husband called paramedics. Galchinsky, 79, didn\u2019t go to the ER, but the experience shook her up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was extremely scary,\u201d she said of the feeling. \u201cWhen was this going to go away? It was so frightening.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the state-funded study<\/a> , there were 2,567 emergency visits at the Denver hospital caused by marijuana from 2012-2016. It\u2019s not just tourists; 9 out of 10 cases were Colorado residents.<\/p>\n

Seventeen percent of the visits were for uncontrolled bouts of vomiting. It was most often from inhaled marijuana, not edibles.<\/p>\n

Twelve percent of the cases were for acute psychosis, where people without a history of mental disorders lose touch with reality. That was more frequently seen with edibles.<\/p>\n

Intoxication and heart problems were other common complaints.<\/p>\n

In an editorial, Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, called for more research on the benefits and harms of marijuana. She and co-author Ruben Baler wrote there is an \u201curgent need\u201d for greater oversight of manufacturing and labeling as marijuana use increases with state legalization.<\/p>\n

Monte, an ER doctor who specializes in toxicology, doesn\u2019t use marijuana. \u201cI\u2019m too busy,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t spend time being high.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives <\/em>support<\/em><\/a> from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Thursday, June 2, 2016 file photo shows lime-flavored cannabis-infused gummy candy in Portland, Ore., on the first day recreational marijuana users could legally purchase marijuana edibles and oils in the state. A study shows marijuana is sending more people to the emergency room in one large Denver hospital. Inhaled weed caused the most severe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-794182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 02:11:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}