Hysteria Over Childhood Marijuana Exposure Is Disproportionate To Harms

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A major new study on accidental exposure to cannabis is fanning a media firestorm, and the ensuing hysteria is wildly disproportionate to the actual harms to children.

Simply put, kids who accidentally eat a pot brownie will be utterly fine. Meanwhile, thousands of kids are going to die this year from being poisoned by personal care and household products, with no proportionate outcry.

As a society, we must be clear-headed about this stuff. Lock up your edibles, of course, but prioritize outrage based on actual harm.

The Clinical Pediatrics study published on June 7 found that marijuana exposures among children under six in the United States from 2000 through 2013 totaled 1,969. That's a very low rate of 5.90 per million children. The mean age of an exposed child was 1.81 years, 75 percent percent of exposures were eaten, and 18.5 percent required admission to a healthcare facility. 

“The rate of...

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URL: 
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/LegalizationNation/archives/2015/06/09/childhood-marijuana-exposure-hysteria-is-disproportionate-to-harms