KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Doctors at the East Tennessee Children's Hospital said they treated 56 newborns for marijuana exposure within the last year, and doctors said it could be due to mothers using it while pregnant.
People must be 21 years old in order to buy cannabis-related products in Tennessee, but despite the age restrictions, doctors said kids are still getting their hands on it.
According to Dr. Suzanne Rybczynski, children and teens are being admitted to the hospital with THC poisoning. THC is the chemical in marijuana that produces the "high" sensation after using marijuana. It can be found in cannabis-related Delta-8, Delta-9, THCa and similar products such as gummies, vapes and other forms of edible products.
"Over 300 in the last year alone have had problems related to the use of cannabis," said Rybczynski.
Health leaders said newborns are also being exposed to cannabis, and that the product today is much stronger than it used to be. Kids are having a lot of bad reactions or overdoses, according to those health leaders. Doctors said large doses of THC affect children's mental health, possibly leading to hallucinations and confusion.
"Cannabis can cause you to be anxious, paranoid," one doctor said.
According to numbers from the East Tennessee Children's Hospital, 31 kids went to the hospital from accidental cannabis poisoning within the last year.
"Because you're using cannabis, you end up having a lot of vomiting, it's uncontrolled vomiting," the doctor said.
According to the National Poison Data System, in 2017 there were about 200 cases of cannabis poisoning, and four years later, that jumped to 3,000 cases.