CO Study: One in Six Children Hospitalized for Lung Inflammation Test Positive for Marijuana Exposure
The American Academy of Pediatrics has released a study showing “one in six infants and toddlers admitted to a Colorado hospital with coughing, wheezing and other symptoms of bronchiolitis tested positive for marijuana exposure.”
The AAP writes,
The findings suggest that secondhand marijuana smoke, which contains carcinogenic and psychoactive chemicals, may be a rising child health concern as marijuana increasingly becomes legal for medical and recreational use in the United States, said lead researcher Karen M. Wilson, MD, MPH, FAAP, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and section head at [Children’s Hospital Colorado]. Most states with legal marijuana do not restrict its combustion around children, she said.
“Our study demonstrates that, as with secondhand tobacco smoke, children can be exposed to the chemicals in marijuana when it is smoked by someone nearby,” Dr. Wilson said. “Especially as marijuana becomes more available and acceptable, we need to learn more about how this may affect children’s health and development.” In the meantime, she said, “marijuana should never be smoked in the presence of children.”
Of course if it’s harmful to use marijuana around children, one has to question the wisdom in giving so-called “medical marijuana” to children at all.