Kids and Cannabis Gummies

A popular topic in this newsletter is “bad studies that animate the media.” Sometimes I feel like if this was your main consumption of research, you’d conclude that all studies are bad, and also that the media likes alarmist headlines. The second is true; the first is not. Many research papers are not bad. Perhaps more important to note, much of what is produced by academic journals — even on topics the general public might be interested in — never gets surfaced in the media at all.

One of my favorite things to do is peruse relevant journals and see what they are up to that I’m not hearing about in the New York Times or in the scary headlines you send me on Instagram DMs. Today I’m going to surface the results of one of those perusals.

Cannabis in candy

Here is a report that I was surprised didn’t get some coverage: “The Continued Rise of Unintentional Ingestion of Edible Cannabis in Toddlers — A Growing Public Health Concern.” As the title suggests, this is a paper about the phenomenon of children eating cannabis gummies because they look like actual gummy candy.

This report is fairly light on actual evidence; it’s, again, more of a viewpoint. The authors cite a 13-fold increase in cannabis encounters for children under 6 over the period from 2004 to 2018. However: the number of encounters is still extremely small — in one cited study, it’s 29 cases over a 10-year period. The complications of cannabis consumption among children include confusion, neurological issues, extreme drowsiness, etc. They may well require hospitalization, at least for observation.

What I liked about this paper is the authors make a compelling point that there is a possible danger due to the discomfort with discussing these issues. Pediatricians aren’t yet comfortable with the conversation that starts with: “Do you have cannabis candies in your house, and, if so, can we talk about how you are storing them?” There is a chance this will change with more legalization. And, frankly, it would be good for children if it did.

The practical note here is that if you have cannabis gummies or cookies or any delicious treats in your house, please store them in a location where they will not be found and confused for actual candy by your children.