Pediatric hospitalizations for unintentional cannabis poisonings and all-cause poisonings associated with edible cannabis product legalization and sales in Canada.

Abstract

Importance: Canada legalized cannabis in October 2018 but initially prohibited the sale of edibles (eg, prepackaged candies). Starting in January 2020, some provinces permitted the sale of commercial cannabis edibles. The association of legalizing cannabis edibles with unintentional pediatric poisonings is uncertain. Question: What is the association between legalization of recreational cannabis edibles and unintentional pediatric cannabis poisoning? Findings: This cross-sectional study of all children (n = 3.4 million) aged 0 to 9 years across 4 Canadian provinces found that jurisdictions that allowed the sale of cannabis edibles experienced much larger increases in cannabis poisonings and proportions of overall poisoning hospitalizations due to cannabis than the jurisdiction that prohibited edibles. Meaning: These findings suggest that restricting the sale of legal cannabis edibles may be a key policy to prevent unintentional pediatric cannabis poisonings following legalization