ER visits among seniors rose after cannabis legalization, study finds – GLOBAL
May 21, 2024
A new study has linked the legalization of cannabis with a rise in the number of Ontario seniors visiting emergency rooms.
The number of people aged 65 and over checking into ERs in Ontario for what amounted to cannabis poisoning grew sharply over an eight-year period, particularly after cannabis was legalized, according to the report published Monday in the peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
“These are not people getting too high, being giddy and laughing,” said Dr. Nathan Stall, a geriatric specialist at Sinai Health in Toronto and lead author of the report.
“These are people very sick to the point where health-care practitioners, without knowing that they’ve consumed cannabis, consider other serious health conditions, like stroke, serious infection (and) serious metabolic abnormalities.”
Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/10514032/cannabis-legalization-er-visits-seniors/
