ERs seeing more harm from weed

Five years after Colorado first legalized marijuana, a study shows pot’s bad effects are sending more people to the emergency room.

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.

The study, published this week in Annals of Internal Medicine, stemmed from tales of tourists needing emergency care after gobbling too many marijuana gummies.

“It was hard to know if these were just anecdotes or if there was a true phenomenon,” said lead author Dr. Andrew Monte of UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora.

Three deaths in Colorado tied to edible products also prompted the study.

Emergency room records from Monte’s 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.

In 2012, the ER saw an average of one patient every other day with a marijuanacaused problem. Voters passed a cannabis amendment in 2012 and it became legal in 2014. By 2016, the ER count was two to three per day. That’s not enough to swamp the emergency department, Monte said, but it stresses an already burdened system.

Most people can use marijuana safely, Monte said, but with its increased availability and higher THC concentrations, “we may be seeing more adverse drug reactions,” he said.

THC is the part of marijuana that gets people high.

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’t involved in the research.