VOA健康报道2023--More Children Mistakenly Eating Legal Marijuana Food Products

More Children Mistakenly Eating Legal Marijuana Food Products

A study published recently found that the number of children who accidentally¹ ate foods containing the drug marijuana increased over five years.

Many areas in the United States have voted to make the drug marijuana legal during that time period.

More than 7,000 confirmed cases of children younger than six years old eating foods made with marijuana were reported to the nation's poison control centers between 2017 and 2021. Reported incidents increased from about 200 to more than 3,000 per year.

New research was published in a study in Pediatrics. The study found nearly one fourth of the children had to go to the hospital. Some became seriously ill.

Dr. Marit Tweet is a medical toxicologist, an expert on poisons, with the Southern Illinois School of Medicine. She led the study.

She said cases of children eating marijuana products, including sweets, are happening as more states permit medical and recreational marijuana use.

Tweet called for parents to be more careful. She also called for new laws to make marijuana products less appealing and less usable for children. Marijuana products often take the form of candies and foods. At least two states, Colorado and Washington, have such laws.

"When it's in a candy form or cookies, people don't think of it in the same way as household chemicals or other things a child could get into," she said. "But people should really be thinking of it as a medication."

Tweet and her co-researchers examined reports from the National Poison Data System. It includes 55 poison control centers across the country. More than half of the children affected² were between the ages of two and three, the study showed. More than 90 percent got the marijuana food products, called edibles³, at home.

"They're the ones starting to explore and to get up and move around," she said.

Of more than 7,000 reports, researchers were able to follow the outcomes⁴ of nearly 5,000 cases. They found that nearly 600 children, or about eight percent, were admitted to critical care services, most often with depressed⁵ breathing or even coma⁶. Nearly 15 percent were admitted to non-critical care units and more than a third were seen in emergency rooms. Tiredness, breathing problems, fast heart rate, and vomiting⁸ were the most common symptoms.

Dr. Brian Shultz is an emergency doctor who works⁹ with children at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. He said the results are not surprising. He formerly¹⁰ worked at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C. In the nation's capital, he and his coworkers treated children who had eaten marijuana edibles "almost on a daily basis," he said.

Reports and hospitalizations increased during the last two years of the study, during the COVID-19 pandemic. More children were at home, with more chances to find marijuana edibles, Tweet said. With marijuana more widely legal, parents may have felt less stigma¹¹ seeking help from poison centers and health care providers, she added.

Words in This Story

toxicology – n. the study of poisonous chemicals and drugs and how a person or other living thing reacts to them

recreational – adj. used for pleasure instead of for medical purposes

coma – n. a state in which a sick or injured person is unconscious for a long time

vomit⁷ – v. to have the food and liquid that is in your stomach come out through your mouth because you are sick

symptom – n. a change in the body or mind which indicates that a disease¹² is present

stigma – n. a set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something

1 accidentally   

adv.偶然地；意外地

参考例句：

• Mary accidentally let out that her mother had telephoned.玛丽无意中说出她的母亲来过电话。
• As I turned around,I accidentally hit him in the face.我转身时不经意撞了他的脸。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 edibles   

可以吃的，可食用的( edible的名词复数 )； 食物

参考例句：

• They freely offered for sale what edibles they had. 他们很自愿地把他们的一点点可吃的东西卖给我们。
• Our edibles the wild vegetable. 我们只能吃野菜。

4 outcomes   

结果( outcome的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The two scenarios provide illustrations of consistent set of outcomes for range of possible policies. 这两个方案说明某一套可能采取的政策将会产生的一系列后果。
• We analyzed all the possible outcomes of your mission, Commander. 我们分析过所有可能的结果，指挥官。

5 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

6 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

7 vomit   

v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物

参考例句：

• They gave her salty water to make her vomit.他们给她喝盐水好让她吐出来。
• She was stricken by pain and began to vomit.她感到一阵疼痛，开始呕吐起来。

8 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

9 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

10 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

11 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

12 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。