{"id":20468,"date":"2025-12-21T15:19:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T14:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=20468"},"modified":"2026-02-17T20:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:13:12","slug":"potheads-head-for-the-emergency-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/12\/potheads-head-for-the-emergency-room\/","title":{"rendered":"Potheads Head for the Emergency Room"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Robert F. Bukaty\/Associated Press – Wall Street Journal\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Editorial Board\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dec. 9, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n

Forwarded by Maggie Petito, DWI –\u00a0 10 December 2025<\/span><\/p>\n

Two new studies show that the ill effects of THC are increasing.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some surprising political news: A referendum campaign is gaining support in Massachusetts, of all places, to reverse the state\u2019s 2016 legalization of recreational marijuana. Not coincidentally, two new studies report a surge in young pot users showing up at hospital emergency rooms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Doctors at Mass General Brigham hospital found that the share of adolescents with psychiatric emergencies who tested positive for THC\u2014the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana\u2014jumped nearly four-fold after the drug was legalized for recreational sale and consumption in the state. The prevalence of other cannabis-related disorders among adolescents increased by a similar amount.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYoung people with mental health challenges are more vulnerable to the negative effects of cannabis use, which can catalyze or worsen psychiatric symptoms,\u201d author\u00a0Cheryl Yunn Shee Foo\u00a0writes. She adds that legalization of the drug can lead to \u201cgreater accessibility, social acceptability, and advertising\u201d that increases use among young people.<\/span><\/p>\n

This last point is common sense. Legalization removes a stigma from marijuana use, as well as increasing its availability.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meantime, a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) finds a surge in young adults nationwide showing up at hospital emergency rooms with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS). This is cyclical vomiting, often with nausea or stomach pain, that is far more severe than what someone might experience after a night of binge drinking. It is caused by heavy marijuana use, especially at high potencies.<\/span><\/p>\n

ER visits for the disorder increased nearly eight-fold in the spring of 2020 as Covid lockdowns took hold. Visits dropped some in 2022, but remained about five times higher than before the pandemic. The U.S. Northeast and West experienced the biggest spikes, perhaps not surprising since most states in those regions have legalized marijuana and they also imposed strict lockdowns.<\/span><\/p>\n

California, New York and other progressive states allowed pot dispensaries to stay open during the lockdowns by deeming them \u201cessential businesses.\u201d Instead of working, young people got high at home.<\/span><\/p>\n

The study notes that better awareness among physicians of the disorder may contribute to the increase in ER diagnoses. An earlier study found that patients with the syndrome visited the ER on average 18 times before getting diagnosed, costing on average $76,920 per patient. Maybe someone can investigate how much Medicaid is spending on treating pothead maladies.<\/span><\/p>\n

An accompanying commentary in JAMA says that stopping marijuana use is the \u201ccornerstone\u201d of preventing the syndrome, but \u201cabrupt discontinuation may lead to withdrawal and high rates of relapse.\u201d Legalization proponents downplay marijuana\u2019s negative effects and addictive potential, but daily marijuana use is more common than daily alcohol use, according to a Carnegie Mellon University analysis last year of national survey data.<\/span><\/p>\n

A group in Massachusetts last week submitted more than 74,000 signatures for a ballot referendum next November to reverse the state\u2019s legalization experiment. These days this is a counterculture cause, but it\u2019s one that may gain momentum as the ills of pothead culture and especially from pot use among the young become more widespread.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: www.drugwatch.org<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Robert F. Bukaty\/Associated Press – Wall Street Journal\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Editorial Board\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dec. 9, 2025 Forwarded by Maggie Petito, DWI –\u00a0 10 December 2025 Two new studies show that the ill effects of THC are increasing. Here\u2019s some surprising political news: A referendum campaign is gaining support in Massachusetts, of all places, to reverse the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,129,68,40,36,19,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cannabis-marijuana","category-culture","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-prevention-research","category-treatment-addiction","category-usa","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20468"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20492,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20468\/revisions\/20492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}