Calls to UVA Health’s Blue Ridge Poison Center for children unintentionally consuming edible marijuana products nearly tripled from 26 in 2021 to 77 in 2022.
About 68% of those calls in 2022 – a total of 52 – involved children ages 5 or younger, with most of those kids requiring hospitalization. Calls among this age group more than tripled from 2021, when the poison center received 16 calls for kids 5 or younger.
UVA Health medical toxicologist Chris Holstege, MD, the poison center’s medical director, said most of these cases are caused by toddlers mistaking edible marijuana products for candy.
Read full story in UVA Health Newsroom.
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