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ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As states continue to legalize recreational use of cannabis, a study from the Journal of Pediatrics shows an increase of reported cases of accidental consumption of cannabis edibles by children under six.
Some are creating a business centered on culture and conversations about cannabis experiences.
“My partner and I, Brandi, have been doing this for quite some time,” CEO of Entertaining and Elevating with Cannabis Precious Brown said. “And we want to be seen as a resource in the community because that’s really what we are. We want to make sure that we can continue to reimagine the consumption of cannabis one experience at a time, one stay at a time, and one conversation at a time.”
Brown has seen the damaging impact the ban on cannabis has had on Black and brown communities, and hopes to not only transform its stigma, but educate and normalize cannabis consumption.
“We’ve been given misinformation,” Brown said. “We have an opportunity to acknowledge the past, the harms of cannabis prohibition. The fact that it has divided communities and disenfranchised Black and brown people in so many different ways. The list is endless. We have an opportunity now that it is legalized, to celebrate in a regulated market.”
As a number of states legalize the recreational use of cannabis, studies from the Journal of Pediatrics show younger children are accidentally ingesting edibles, with some requiring hospitalization and critical care.
“It’s happening more and more frequently,” pediatric emergency medicine physician Dr. Anne Brayer said. “And the typical case that we will see, it will be in a toddler or a young child who comes in with what we call altered mental status, meaning they’re not responding the way they normally do. Their vital signs might be abnormal. We and oftentimes the parents don’t know what’s going on.”
Doctors are advising parents and guardians to keep cannabis products out of reach from children.
“They need to stop making them look like candies so they’re not so attractive to children,” Brayer said. “I did a quick research in our data set and in 2020, seven children ingested cannabis by accident. For the first nine months, we saw 20 children in the first nine months of 2022. So it’s just increasing year over year.”
Some are emphasizing the importance of properly educating cannabis consumption.
“If you are educated in that way and understand that all cannabis is medicinal, then you’re not going to have accidents right,” Brown said. “Where children are able to consume edibles and adults are using cannabis products in front of children.”
These conversations and initiatives hope to seek change within the cannabis industry.
“Cannabis is organic,” Brown said. “Cannabis is God’s gift to us. And I think that, again, if we get down to the heart and the education of what cannabis can do, I think it would honestly be something that could radically change the health of the community.”
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