Pediatrician Philippe Babe warns of the increase in cannabis poisoning in children under 3 years old.
- Accidental cannabis poisoning among toddlers after oral ingestion has been constantly increasing in France since 2004.
- Concerned by the evolution of his service, Doctor Philippe Babe, emergency pediatrician in Lenval, wishes to raise a real alert on the subject.
- “It is a serious and worrying poisoning,” specifies the specialist.
“We urgently hospitalized, in intensive care, a child under 3 years old following the ingestion of cannabis resin. This is not an exception, since the beginning of the year there have been around ten stocking of this type. Concerned by the evolution of his service, Doctor Philippe Babe, emergency pediatrician in Lenval, wishes to sound a real alert.
Cannabis poisoning in children: what are the symptoms?
“Young children of consumer parents can accidentally absorb cannabis resin. This is a serious and worrying poisoning,” adds the specialist.
“Acute neurological manifestations of this type of poisoning, such as behavioral disturbances, hyperreflexia (abnormal increase in reflexes), mydriasis (pupil dilation), excessive drowsiness, hypotonia (muscle weakness) or perioral cyanosis (blue-purple discoloration of tissues) cannot be neglected and should lead the child to the pediatric emergency department. describes Doctor Philippe Babe.
“Medical teams must also be informed by parents of the risk of poisoning in order to facilitate diagnosis and guide treatment,” he insists.
Cannabis poisoning in children: possible after-effects
“In this type of domestic accident, the risk of after-effects exists, in particular neurodevelopmental disorders which could lead to one or more physical handicaps, neurological after-effects, problems with acquisition or even memory problems,” alerts the expert again.
Accidental cannabis poisoning among toddlers after oral ingestion has been constantly increasing in France since 2004. In 2015-2017, for example, there were 2.5 times more poisonings, 2 times more hospitalizations and 5 times more serious cases with admission to intensive care compared to 2010-2014.
Cannabis poisoning mainly affects toddlers under 3 years old. “In the French pediatric population, 86% of patients poisoned by cannabis are under 3 years old. The form mainly involved is cannabis resin, cited in 80% of cases and belonging to one of the 2 parents or to the close entourage, the place of intoxication being the parental home in almost all situations”, specifies a study cited by Doctor Philippe Babe.
Cannabis poisoning in children: how do their parents use it?
The French cannabis market is one of the largest in Europe in terms of consumption (5 million users per year in our country out of 22 million in the EU).
Cannabis is a plant with various uses, some varieties of which have neuropharmacological effects which are essentially due to one of the approximately 100 cannabinoids present in the plant, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It is internationally classified as a narcotic. “In France, it is consumed in 3 main forms. The herb and the resin are the most common, while the oil is much less frequently observed”, specifies the OFDT (French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies).
