Drowsiness, vomiting, tremors, convulsions … These symptoms may indicate a cannabis poisoning in children. The National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) launches the alert in its bulletin Vigilance for the month of October 2015: “an increase in reports of pediatric cannabis poisoning has been observed since 2014. These poisonings mainly affect children under 2 years of age.“The consequences can be very serious, with cardiac, ventilatory and neurological disorders which can go as far as coma, leading in most cases to hospitalization for more than 24 hours.
Ile-de-France and the PACA region most affected
To draw up this assessment, the ANSM relies on the figures recorded between 2010 and 2014 by the addiction-vigilance centers for children under 10 years old. Over these four years, these centers reported 140 pediatric poisonings, including 59 in 2014 alone. “Among these notifications, 120 resulted in hospitalizations of 24 hours or more, with 9 serious cases, corresponding to life-threatening situations and leading to admission to pediatric intensive care or continuing care.“underlines the ANSM. At the same time, the hospitalization database identified 615 cases of pediatric cannabis poisoning, mainly occurring in 2013 (151 cases) and 2014 (247 cases). The regions most affected in 2014 were the Island -de-France (49 cases), and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur (39 cases).
Keep nothing within reach of children
The evolution of these cases has been favorable and to date no death has been reported but the ANSM wishes to warn about the dangers associated with such exposure: “In the event of ingestion or suspicion of ingestion of cannabis, the emergency structures (Samu Centers 15) must be immediately notified.“. These poisonings most often follow the accidental ingestion of cannabis in the family environment. The ANSM recalls that it is essential to keep any substance – cannabis but also drugs – out of the sight and reach of children.
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