{"id":75145,"date":"2024-05-09T06:23:39","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T14:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/05\/09\/virginia-officials-launch-surveillance-system-to-track-cannabis-related-adverse-events-among-children\/"},"modified":"2024-05-09T12:45:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T20:45:45","slug":"virginia-officials-launch-surveillance-system-to-track-cannabis-related-adverse-events-among-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/05\/09\/virginia-officials-launch-surveillance-system-to-track-cannabis-related-adverse-events-among-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Officials Launch \u2018Surveillance System\u2019 To Track Cannabis-Related \u2018Adverse Events\u2019 Among Children"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, there needs to be proper attribution as to what the child actually consumed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Graham Moomaw, Virginia Mercury<\/strong><\/p>\n

Virginia officials are instructing health care providers to start keeping track of \u201cadverse events\u201d involving children and teens being exposed to cannabis products.<\/p>\n

In an April 24 letter to clinicians, State Health Commissioner Karen Shelton said her agency had received enough reports of minors getting sick from products containing CBD and THC, chemical compounds found in cannabis, that the state was establishing a \u201cspecial surveillance system\u201d to keep tabs on the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cReported symptoms for these adverse events have included vomiting, hallucinations, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, altered mental status and anxiety,\u201d Shelton wrote, adding that \u201csome hospitalizations have occurred\u201d as a result of minors consuming cannabis products.<\/p>\n

The letter specifically asks that local health departments be made aware of any cannabis-related hospitalizations in patients under 18 years old and any \u201cclusters of adverse events\u201d affecting multiple minors.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a hospitalization or cluster is reported, VDH staff will collect information about the illness(es), possible exposures, and laboratory results,\u201d the letter says.<\/p>\n

The Health Department provided data showing an increase in emergency room visits involving minors being exposed to cannabis, and said the new surveillance system will help bolster those tracking efforts. In 2019, there were 52 ER visits. By 2023, the number had grown to 377.<\/p>\n

That data only covers emergency room visits and doesn\u2019t reflect every incident reported to health officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of these data, the special surveillance system was established in order for VDH to receive these reports directly and better assess the impact of adverse events related to consumption of products containing THC or CBD among children in the Commonwealth,\u201d said Health Department spokesperson Cheryle Rodriguez.<\/p>\n

The letter<\/a> also points to an online portal<\/a> allowing anyone who had an adverse experience with cannabis products to submit a report to the Health Department with information about what happened, where the product was obtained and how it was labeled. The agency also noted that lab testing is available to \u201csupport patient and product testing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tracking system set up by health officials is the latest government effort to mitigate the downsides of cannabis, as policymakers continue to debate what to do about adult use of marijuana and products close enough to weed to produce a similar high. Earlier this year, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) pointed to health risks to children as one of his reasons for vetoing legislation that would have legalized retail sales of marijuana<\/a> for purely recreational use.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most concerning consequence of cannabis commercialization is its impact on adolescents and our children,\u201d Youngkin said in his veto statement, which also cited data showing increases in calls to poison control centers for children who consumed cannabis edibles.<\/p>\n

There have been numerous news stories in the past few years of THC-related overdoses at Virginia schools, some of them being serious enough to require hospitalization. Last year, a high school in the city of Richmond took the unusual step of banning all candy after four students suffered \u201cmedical distress\u201d after eating edibles believed to contain a form of THC, the intoxicating element found in marijuana, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As lawmakers have relaxed Virginia\u2019s laws on adult possession of small amounts of marijuana, they\u2019ve taken steps to crack down on legally murky products like delta-8 THC, which produces a high similar to marijuana but has gone largely unregulated because it\u2019s typically derived from hemp plants.<\/p>\n

Michelle Peace, a forensic science professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who specializes in vaping and cannabis research, said data collection and better testing will help health officials \u201cget their arms around\u201d the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to know how pervasive the problem is,\u201d Peace said in an interview.<\/p>\n

Peace has been doing her own research into the vaping habits of Virginia K-12 students by testing the contents of vape equipment confiscated by school officials. Out of 369 submissions, 82 percent contained nicotine and 18 percent had some form of THC.<\/p>\n

Much of that THC was \u201cvery highly concentrated,\u201d Peace said, making it more likely that the user would experience negative effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, there needs to be proper attribution as to what the child actually consumed,\u201d Peace said.<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Virginia Mercury.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Democratic Congressman Lays Out New Marijuana Agenda To Reflect Renewed \u2018Optimism\u2019 Amid Rescheduling Move<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Photo courtesy of Pexels.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Virginia Officials Launch \u2018Surveillance System\u2019 To Track Cannabis-Related \u2018Adverse Events\u2019 Among Children<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n
\nRead More: Virginia Officials Launch \u2018Surveillance System\u2019 To Track Cannabis-Related \u2018Adverse Events\u2019 Among Children<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAt the end of the day, there needs to be proper attribution as to what the child actually consumed.\u201d By Graham Moomaw, Virginia Mercury Virginia officials are instructing health care providers to start keeping track of \u201cadverse events\u201d involving children and teens being exposed to cannabis products. In an AprilContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75146,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75145\/revisions\/75146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}