The number of out-of-state visitors suffering marijuana-related medical problems who landed in the emergency room of the University of Colorado Hospital doubled between 2013 and 2014.
Advertisement
That’s according to a study that will be published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
For the study, they compared data on visits to their ER for causes related to use of various drugs by Colorado residents and people from out of state. “Some people tend to do it overboard more when they’re on vacation, and that could also be playing a part”. They may be less experienced with the particular products in the state.
Researchers said other states in which recreational marijuana is legal – including Alaska, Oregon and Washington – may be experiencing similar spikes in emergency room visits. The research took place in the emergency department of UCHealth’s University of Colorado Hospital. The ER sees about 100,000 patients per year, the study said. Among Colorado residents, the number of marijuana-related visits was 70 per 10,000 in 2012 compared to 101 per 10,000 in 2014, a 44 percent increase. Out-of-staters with marijuana complaints went from 78 per 10,000 visits in 2012 to 112 per 10,000 visits in 2013 to 163 per 10,000 visits in 2014. Instead, the patients usually reported that pot exacerbated an underlying medical condition, especially schizophrenia or psychosis. “So we wondered if the numbers would bear this out overall”.
Tourists and Coloradans also had different complaints related to marijuana.
It’s not clear why Colorado residents are doing better than the visitors, but Kim thinks it probably has to do with better understanding of marijuana and its side effects.
There are marijuana-specific tours, like those run by My 420 Tours, but many of these visitors seem to be in Colorado for other reasons, says lead author Dr. Howard Kim, an emergency medicine physician and a postdoc at Northwestern University.
In the report, the researchers did not look specifically at how people were using marijuana; however, it’s possible that edible marijuana may have been a culprit behind the rise in ER visits, Kim said.
For example, pot-laced candy bars are supposed to be broken into ten pieces, with each piece containing a full 10-milligram serving of THC, the chemical in pot that gets you high, Hill said. “Then they’ve ingested multiple products, so when the effect finally kicks in, it is much stronger”. But they might not be prepared for the effects. It may also be that marijuana has become more potent and some smokers may not realize that.
Armentano agreed that consumer education is key. “The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has done a great job”.
The first step to legalization will be to establish a joint federal-provincial-territorial task force to bring together experts in public health, substance abuse and law enforcement to help design a new system for marijuana sales and distribution.
Advertisement
“There’s more communication between patients and providers, and of course there’s just more marijuana out in the community”, Monte said.
