CANNABIS POISONS TODDLERS

THIRTY-THREE children under 2((1/2) years of age have been admitted to
North Island hospitals with cannabis poisoning in the past six years -- and
a paediatrician fears the number is just the tip of the iceberg.

John Goldsmith, who collected and collated the information from five North
Island hospitals, said he had also received informal reports of cases in
the South Island. "It is a nationwide problem," he said. "I believe up to
100 children each year may be admitted to New Zealand hospitals but not all
doctors recognise the symptoms.

"As most of the children recover within 12 hours, the doctors may not
always do a urine test to find the cause of the child's coma or muscle
spasms, so they are not identified to the health system."

Dr Goldsmith, of Wanganui, said that in all the collated cases, the
children were aged between eight months and 2((1/2) years, and either had
eaten cannabis oil from capsules they found lying around, or had cannabis
identified in their urine tests.

"Some may have deliberately been given cannabis or exposed to cannabis smoke."

All the children were drowsy but some were deeply unconscious, and some
needed admission to intensive care units.

Some also needed tests such as spinal fluid collection or CT scans because
the cause of their coma was not known, and about half of them had worrying
symptoms such as slow breathing or muscle spasms that looked like convulsions.

In addition, some were treated unnecessarily with strong antibiotics or
sedatives for suspected infections or epilepsy.

Dr Goldsmith said parents were usually reluctant to admit that their child
had access to cannabis but they often confirmed the suspicions of health
workers when asked.

"Apart from the risks to small children from cannabis in such a
concentrated and readily accessible form as cannabis oil, the children
often have uncomfortable and invasive tests, which could be avoided if the
problem was identified at the beginning when the child is taken to the
hospital.

"There needs to be much better public education about the dangers of
cannabis to small children, and more research is urgently required to find
out how big the problem really is, how best to treat these children, and
what the long-term effects of such massive exposure to cannabis might be,"
Dr Goldsmith said.

"Doctors and nurses need to be aware that cannabis may be a cause of
drowsiness or coma in children, that urine tests can be very helpful, and
that the associated muscle spasms are not convulsions so that the children
are not treated with inappropriate medicines."