Study in Journal of Addiction Medicine Documents Exponential Increase in Children’s Exposure to Cannabis Since 2009

More than 8,000 Exposures Annually in Children Under 6 in 2024

PEORIA, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A study published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, The Official Journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, highlighted the surge in exposures to cannabis among children aged 12 or younger reported by US poison centers. Reported exposures increased from 153 in 2009 to 11,324 in 2024.

The peer-reviewed study "Changes in exposure of US children ages 12 and under to cannabis from 2000 to 2024" is a retrospective, time-trend analysis based on cases of pediatric cannabis exposures reported in calls to US poison centers tracked by the National Poison Data System.

“More than 11,000 children aged 12 and under experienced cannabis exposures leading to calls to poison centers in both 2023 and 2024,” explained lead author Raymond E. Bertino, M.D., Clinical Professor at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria.

The number of reported cannabis exposures is especially high in children under 6 years of age. Reported pediatric exposures in that age group were stable from 2000 to 2009. Between 2009 and 2024, exposures of children younger than 6 years of age increased from 132 in 2009 to 8,430 in 2024, an increase of more than 60-fold.

“Previous research suggests over 20% of exposures in children under 6 result in admission to a hospital and in up to 8%, to an intensive care unit,” continued Dr. Bertino. “Studies show that of the exposed children who are admitted to an ICU, virtually all of their exposures have been due to edibles. A small number of the children will be intubated and put on a ventilator. A small number will suffer seizures.”

The rise in reported pediatric exposures is temporally associated with changes in federal cannabis policy that began in 2009. These include the Ogden Memorandum by the US Department of Justice in 2009 and the Cole Memorandum in 2013, which together resulted in a federal policy of non-prosecution in states legalizing medical and recreational cannabis.

These memos prompted massive business investment with the opening of thousands of marijuana stores (dispensaries) in states which had legalized it. The number of states with legal medical marijuana increased from 13 in 2009 to 39 in 2024. States legalizing recreational marijuana increased from 0 in 2009 to 24 in 2024.

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (also known as the 2018 Farm Bill) was a further change, legalizing all components of the hemp plant, including those containing cannabis analogs. Sales of hemp-derived products such as delta-8 THC have since proliferated across all 50 states.

"This is an urgent pediatric public health problem,” commented Dr. Bertino. “Possible solutions include review of federal cannabis policy, improvement of child-resistant packaging, further limiting the maximum THC per edible package, and increased vigilance by parents and cannabis users. As long as the commercial marketing of flavored, sweetened, edible cannabis products that appeal to children is allowed, it is unlikely that we again will see the low levels of pediatric cannabis poisonings that were the norm prior to 2009.”