Colorado Hospital Sees Higher Pot-Related Visits Since Legalization

The number of marijuana-related visits to the emergency room and urgent care center at Children’s Hospital Colorado has more than quadrupled since Colorado legalized recreational use, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus reviewed ED and urgent care records for 13- to 21-year-olds, looking for visits where the patient either had a diagnostic code related to marijuana use or a positive urine screen; that number rose from 146 in 2005 to 639 in 2014. The results seem slightly at odds with national data showing no increase in teenage pot use in states where recreational marijuana is legal. Further, more than half of the teenagers who tested positive in the Colorado study also had positive urine tests for other drugs, with ethanol, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, opiates, and cocaine the most common.