Increase in calls to US poison control for natural psychoactive substances
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191126213919.htm
A new study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy and the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children's Hospital found there were more than 67,300 calls to U.S. Poison Control Centers regarding exposures to natural psychoactive substances. The study looked at calls from January 2000 through December 2017, which totaled an average of 3,743 exposures each year, or approximately 10 calls every day.
"These substances have been associated with a variety of serious medical outcomes including seizures and coma in adults and children," said Henry Spiller, MS, D.ABAT, co-author of this study and director of the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children's. The increasing rate of exposures to marijuana accounted for almost half of all natural psychoactive substance exposures and can be attributed, in part, to the increasing number of states that have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use. "As more states continue to legalize marijuana in various forms, parents and health care providers should treat it like any other medication: locked up, away, and out of sight of children," said Spiller. "With edibles and infused products especially, curious children are mistaking them for kid-friendly candy or food, and that poses a very real risk for harm."