More Young Children Being Exposed to Marijuana Than Ever

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on June 19, 2015 under Addiction Trends, AZ Drug Rehab News | Comments are off for this article

A new report in Clinical Pediatrics shows that children under the age of five are being exposed to marijuana more than ever, with an increase of 147.5% from 2006 to 2013. There was an increase of 610% in states that had legalized medical marijuana before the year 2000.

According to the study, in states that have recently legalized marijuana, young children have an even higher rate of exposure than where it is not. Children under 6 years of age are exposed to marijuana 63% more than in states where it is still illegal. Perhaps even more alarming is the amount of children who are actually ingesting the drug. Researchers found that while most children were indirectly exposed to the drug, but it has been reported that many children actually ingest the drug. This is often because of the growing market of marijuana edibles.

“The high percentage of ingestions may be related to the popularity of marijuana brownies, cookies and other foods. Very young children explore their environment by putting items in their mouths, and foods such as brownies and cookies are attractive,” explained Henry Spiller, the co-author of the study.

A common argument for the legalization of marijuana is that the substance is not as dangerous as some other substances. However, the increase in exposure for young children may not have been predicted, and the harm done to developing brains hasn’t fully been understood yet. For people against legalizing marijuana, these represent valid enough arguments in themselves.