POT TV – A series of reports about a rise in infant poisoning from pot.
Are infant poisonings on the rise in America, or is it Reefer Madness?
If you watched mainstream news coverage across the country, your local CBS or NBC affiliate may have sounded the alarm over a ‘shocking’, ‘skyrocketing’ rise in infants being poisoned after eating sweet cannabis edibles. The reports may feature a concerned parent, a sick child, cannabis being dangerous and scary, and fear over increased cannabis legalization.
The stories all cite a Southern Illinois University School of Medicine report that indicated there was a rise in reported infant poisonings to the National Poison Data System. In 2017, “there were 207 reported cases, and in 2021 there were 3054 cases, an increase of 1375.0%.”
The study does not clarify whether ‘reported’ cases have increased, or actual cases, as state-level legalization has dropped additional criminal penalties for possession, so cases are more likely to be reported.
However the study does mention infant poison control calls overall have decreased over the past five years, ending in 2021 with 846,296.
Even with a ‘surge in weed poisoning’, cannabis poisoning of infants, aged 0 to 6, accounted for less than half of 1% of all reported infant poisonings in the United States.
For comparison, the leading cause of infant poison control calls in America is cosmetics, accounting for over 11% in 2020, followed by cleaning supplies (104,459, 11%) and pain killers (69,955, 7%).
Cannabis isn’t even in the top 10.
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