It Only Takes a Bite of a Marijuana Edible to Send a Child to the Hospital

(HealthDay News) Brightly colored "edibles" can be tempting for young kids and are more widely available now that many U.S. states have legalized cannabis for recreational and medical use.

Unfortunately, it doesn't take much of an edible to make a small child very sick, new research finds, which may explain an uptick in hospitalizations of kids poisoned by cannabis.

"There are many studies demonstrating a rise in pediatric exposures to cannabis with legalization, and I suspect this trend will continue as legalization spreads," said study author Dr. Lesley Pepin, an emergency medicine specialist at the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety in Denver.

A 3-year-old child who weighs around 31 pounds would need to eat just 2.5 milligrams (mg) of the standard 10-mg THC gummies to exceed the toxicity threshold, and a smaller child could become ill after consuming even less, she said. THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

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