vomiting up after colorado weed legalization

by: angela stelmakowichnew u.s. research indicates that legalizing recreational cannabis in colorado preceded a 29 per cent jump in health care encounters among people needing vomiting-related treatment in the state’s emergency departments (ed).specifically, these encounters rose from 119,312 in 2013 to 153,699 in 2018, notes a study published last week in substance use and addiction. in all, 25 per cent of patients were up to 18 years old, 14 per cent were 19 to 25 years and 61 per cent were 26 or older. approximately 62 per cent of patients were female. per cnn, “when an adolescent comes in with cyclical abdominal pain and vomiting, my colleagues know to ask about cannabis use. it’s a pretty common practice to see this and diagnose and treat it,” dr. sam wang, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist and toxicologist at children’s hospital colorado, is reported as saying.study authors wanted to learn if there were more such incidents — repeated and severe bouts of vomiting is a symptom of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome — since colorado green-lit adult-use cannabis several years back.investigators make clear that “although suggestive of an association, the determination of an association between legalization policies and the incidence of cannabis hyperemesis syndrome (chs) has not been established.”the idea was to gather data “to estimate whether the opening of new markets may generate an increase in these cases,” they write.in their cross-sectional study, researchers considered data from the colorado department of revenue marijuana enforcement division and the colorado hospital association for jan. 1, 2013, through dec. 31, 2018. they compared results from counties that had no prior dispensaries before legalization and those that did. in all, 820,778 patients who sought care were included.study findings “suggest a substantial increase in vomiting-related ed visits in colorado after the legalization of recreational cannabis, researchers write. “overall, additional recreational dispensaries in a county were associated with an increase in vomiting-related ed visits when measured in terms of absolute numbers,” they add.that said, the highest spikes “were observed in counties without existing medical dispensaries,” investigators point out. “counties with a high number of medical marijuana dispensaries had increases at a 5.8 per cent slower rate than counties with none,” they report.in the fourth quarter of 2018, the study notes that there were 1,037 dispensaries within the state, 552 recreational and 485 medical. the highest total dispensary counts were found in urban counties: denver’s had 357, el paso’s had 136, boulder’s had 82, pueblo’s had 52 and jefferson’s had 49.

“the rates of county-level ed visits related to vomiting between no-exposure counties and low- or high-exposure counties basically were no longer different after recreational dispensaries were allowed to open,” notes the study. this is “despite there being some fairly large differences in the quarterly per capita rates across these counties before new recreational dispensaries opened.”pointing out that the frequency of vomiting with chs is similar to other cyclic vomiting conditions, it is hypothesized the latter are “due to a disequilibrium with the endocannabinoid system and the brainstem and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis after heavy cannabis use.”a study published last year found that almost one in five cyclic vomiting syndrome hospitalizations have concurrent cannabis use.authors of the latest study acknowledge “the duration, frequency, route or potency of cannabis products used that leads to greater risk for developing this illness has not been determined.”but they do add that a review of 200-plus patients diagnosed with chs “revealed that daily use of cannabis was reported in 47.9 per cent of the patients and weekly use in 19.4 per cent.”“in adolescents and young adults, that’s where there’s growing concern about habitual use and its effect on physical and mental health,” wang said, according to cnn.some twitter users, however, pushed back hard on the coverage, including media motives, reports complex. “i have literally never thrown up from smoking. i’m not saying it’s not happening to other people!! i just don’t understand how or why,” tweeted one user. in light of chs becoming “an emerging clinical issue associated with cannabis use,” authors of the new study recommend health care clinicians in legal states be aware of related symptoms. documentation may help ensure accurate public health surveillance on legalization-associated consequences, they say, adding “intense, protracted vomiting has been associated with severe and fatal outcomes.”failing to understand the constellation of chs symptoms “may impede physicians’ ability to meet the needs of many patients requiring emergency services and make it difficult to accurately monitor the public health association of cannabis use and legalization with a range of health measures, including cardiovascular health, pulmonary disease, injury, addiction, and behavioural health,” the investigators maintain.subscribe to weekend dispensary, a new weekly newsletter from the growthop.