Virginia health care providers are being asked to step up reporting of cases in which CBD or THC products are making kids sick, after a surge in the number of emergency room visits for children in recent years following exposure to marijuana.
That includes tragic and extreme examples of the danger a THC product can pose to young children, like the case of one 4-year-old Spotsylvania boy who died in 2022 after ingesting THC gummies.
Health care experts say, as cannabis and products with THC and CBD become more available, the risk to children is on the rise.
That's part of why the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is issuing new surveillance guidelines to better track the trends.
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Jennifer Feltes, an epidemiologist with the Fairfax County Health Department, shared some of the potential symptoms.
"Those could include vomiting, hallucinations, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, altered mental status, anxiety and hospitalizations," Feltes said.
The VDH has recorded a big jump in emergency department visits for children 17 and under who have fallen ill after consuming marijuana-related products.
In Virginia in 2019, there were 52 emergency visits. By 2021, it had climbed to 207 emergency room visits, and last year in 2023, 377 children went to the emergency department for treatment.
In Fairfax County last year, 73 children wound up in the emergency room.
The state is now asking health care providers to immediately report all hospitalizations that arise from exposure to a THC or CBD product, and to report any clusters of illness.
"What was missing for us was the more complete and more standardized data about these cases," Feltes said. "Through this new surveillance we'll be better able to characterize the trends and frequency of these more serious adverse events in children."
A special portal has been created to drill down on details.
"Learning about the product form, the amount consumed, the packaging, where the product was obtained -- so that's information we hope to collect through this new surveillance system," Feltes said.
Inside Inova's pediatric emergency room, Dr. Adam Kochman says he's also treating more cases.
"Fortunately the majority of children, even young children, who have exposure and come in with these acute intoxications end up doing OK, but they can have very severe consequences," Kochman said.
He said only a small percentage of cases require hospitalization. But still, he welcomes the VDH's effort to gather more data.
"Any way we can collect this data and have this information, I think it's a good idea," Kochman said.
The hope is that the more detailed data will ideally lead to strategies for reducing the number of children who are getting sick.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin cited danger to children as a chief reason he vetoed legislation that would have created a retail market for marijuana in Virginia.
