It’s a safe bet most Colorado parents are aware of the perils posed to their children by our state’s easy access to pot. They are worried, as they should be.

Yet, it’s far from clear most of the state’s elected policymakers understand those same dangers. If they did, they would move swiftly to set much more stringent standards for marijuana retailers, especially in marketing edible-pot products that children mistake for harmless candy.

Maybe the alarming, new research findings on kids and pot that made headlines last week will get politicians’ attention.

As reported by The Gazette and other news media nationwide, the number of young children who accidentally ingested marijuana by eating edible products has skyrocketed nationally since 2017. That’s according to a study conducted by three research physicians, published last week in the medical journal Pediatrics.

The study’s authors, who crunched numbers from the National Poison Data System, found that pot poisonings among children 5 and under exploded 1,375% between 2017 and 2021. Nearly a quarter of those cases resulted in hospitalization.

And in almost all those cases – more than 3,000 nationwide in 2021 – the kids had gotten access to the drug in their very own homes.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, the state health department’s Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Safety center reports that more than half of what the state refers to as “exposures” to marijuana were unintentional and involved edibles. And nearly 50% were children 5 and younger.

Symptoms in children vary, from lethargy, anxiety and an accelerated heart rate, to difficulty breathing, loss of consciousness, and seizures. The younger and smaller the child, of course, the more dire the consequences of acute, unintentional poisoning from marijuana’s THC.

It comes courtesy of a growing assortment of pot products like edibles that are widely available in the legal retail marijuana market in Colorado and in ever more other states.

Especially the easily concealable, edible pot products, which are increasingly popular among adults and teens, are deceptive and dangerous to younger children.

“They think it looks like candy, and maybe, they just want to eat it,” Marit Tweet, an emergency room doctor and the national study’s lead author, told National Public Radio last week.

UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital emergency room physician Andrew Monte told NPR that parents who suspect their child ate an edible should seek treatment immediately.

“There are some patients that actually have airway obstruction and need to be in the ICU or put on a ventilator,” Monte said.

It’s past time for Colorado state lawmakers to put real teeth into the regulation of edible marijuana and other retail pot products.

Tweet and her co-authors observe in their study:

“Products continue to be offered in brightly colored, enticing packaging that is identical in style to how candy and snack products are marketed. Not only should cannabis products be placed in child-resistant packaging, but they should be in opaque packages with simple labels. In addition, there should be clear warning labels on the product cautioning against excessive use, and the national poison center phone number should be included on the package.”

And the author’s conclude:

“This study demonstrates that unintentional cannabis exposures in young children are increasing rapidly. These exposures can cause significant toxicity and are responsible for an increasing number of hospitalizations. Prioritizing prevention strategies such as changing product packaging and labeling, regulating the maximum allowable dose in a package, and increasing public education on mitigation of household risks are key in reducing these exposures.”

Those are doctors’ orders. Will lawmakers heed them?

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board