Impact of Marijuana Legalization in Colorado on Adolescent Emergency and Urgent Care Visits
Open accessAbstract
Purpose Approximately 6%-8% of U.S. adolescents are daily/past-month users of marijuana. However, survey data may not reliably reflect the impact of legalization on adolescents. The objective was to evaluate the impact of marijuana legalization on adolescent emergency department and urgent cares visits to a children's hospital in Colorado, a state that has allowed both medical and recreational marijuana. Methods Retrospective review of marijuana-related visits by International Classification of Diseases codes and urine drug screens, from 2005 through 2015, for patients ≥ 13 and < 21 years old. Results From 2005 to 2015, 4,202 marijuana-related visits were identified. Behavioral health evaluation was obtained for 2,813 (67%); a psychiatric diagnosis was made for the majority (71%) of these visits. Coingestants were common; the most common was ethanol (12%). Marijuana-related visits increased from 1.8 per 1,000 visits in 2009 to 4.9 in 2015. (p = < .0001) CONCLUSIONS: Despite national survey data suggesting no appreciable difference in adolescent marijuana use, our data demonstrate a significant increase in adolescent marijuana-associated emergency department and urgent cares visits in Colorado.
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The empirical literature suggests RCL is associated with increased cannabis-related emergency visits and other health consequences (eg, trauma-related cases).
“In terms of health outcomes, the empirical literature suggests RCL is associated with increased cannabis-related emergency visits24,67,70,76 and other health consequences (eg, trauma-related cases 57 ).”
From The Impact of Recreational Cannabis Legalization on Cannabis Use and Associated Outcomes: A Systematic Review (2023) · cites this paper as [67]
Cites
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Positive and Negative Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids on Health
Cohen, K., Weizman, A., & Weinstein, A. (2019) · Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics · doi:10.1002/cpt.1381 · Cited by 255 · see citing works
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Health care use over 3 years after adolescent SBIRT
Sterling, S., Kline-Simon, A. H., Jones, A., Hartman, L., Saba, K., Weisner, C., & Parthasarathy, S. (2019) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2018-2803 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Wang, G. S., Davies, S. D., Halmo, L. S., Sass, A., & Mistry, R. D.
- Affiliations
- Children's Hospital Colorado (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, George Sam
- Venue
- Journal of Adolescent Health
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-08
- Volume
- 63
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 239-241
- ISSN
- 1054-139X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2794884245
- Cited by
- 120
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 10.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Adolescent Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Poisoning and overdose treatments
- Keywords
- cannabis legalization, adolescent cannabis use, emergency department visits, urgent care visits, psychiatric diagnosis, ethanol, urine drug testing, Colorado
- MeSH terms
- Marijuana Use, Adolescent, Adult, Ambulatory Care, Cannabis, Marijuana Abuse, Colorado, Emergency Service, Hospital, Female, Humans, Male, Retrospective Studies, Young Adult
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