Maryland's cannabis-related emergency room visits are trending downward since legalization

Brennan Stewart, The Baltimore Sun on Dec 3, 2024

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BALTIMORE — Cannabis-related emergency room visits are on a downward trend in Carroll County, according to Maryland Department of Health statistics.

The health department’s interactive dashboard, which debuted last week, displays data for cannabis-related emergency room visits since 2019. The data are based on visits when the patient’s self-reported reason for being at the emergency department involved cannabis or cannabis use was indicated in a doctor’s discharge diagnosis.

The data can be sorted by a variety of demographics and categories, including by county, offering an insight into trends that happened before and after recreational use of marijuana was legalized in the state last year.

The dashboard shows that 13 cannabis-related emergency room visits occurred in Carroll County in October. The county’s highest-recorded monthly occurrence in the last five years was 25, which was reached three times — May 2019, and July and October 2023.

As of July 1, 2023, Maryland residents 21 and older have been allowed to legally use, possess and consume up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis flower, 12 grams of concentrated cannabis, or a total amount of cannabis products that does not exceed 750 mg of THC. This amount is known as the “personal use amount.”

The lowest number of cannabis-related visits per month in the county was 10, recorded in December 2021. Though emergency room visits related to cannabis hit a high in July 2023 and three months later in October, the rate of hospital visits has generally been on the decline since then.

“The Carroll County Health Department is implementing strategies that address public health impacts related to adult-use cannabis legalization using a community-based approach rooted in health equity,” Rachel Turner, health educator with the Carroll County Health Department, said in a statement. “Following cannabis legalization, the health department has increased messaging to educate residents about preventing youth cannabis use, safe storage of cannabis to prevent accidental consumption, the potential risks of using cannabis while pregnant or breastfeeding, and the importance of staying home or planning a safe and sober ride if consuming cannabis.”

Carroll County Commissioner Michael Guerin, who represents District 4, has on several occasions cautioned about the legalization of marijuana in the state, arguing that the cannabis produced today is more dangerous than what was produced in the 1960s and 1970s. He has also been a leading voice against allowing recreational cannabis to be sold in the county’s jurisdiction. Commissioners have yet to adopt a zoning ordinance regulating marijuana sales in the county, though an ordinance has been drafted by the Carroll County Planning Commission, and a public hearing was held in March.

“While we all welcome the most recent decrease in recorded cannabis-related ER visits from the record high in July 2023, ER visits remain elevated as do the concerns of county health officials,” Guerin said in a statement on Tuesday. “Time will tell but increased usage, more licensed vendors, and different methods of delivery (e.g., gummies, vape pens, and topicals) will continue to stress already over-burdened ERs throughout the state. For these reasons other states such as Colorado, Oregon and California, are being forced to re-evaluate recreational cannabis policy decisions to address new and evolving health crises.”

During the 2022 general election Maryland residents overwhelmingly approved a ballot referendum to legalize the recreational use of cannabis statewide. In Carroll County, 41,499 (59.43%) of residents voted in favor of the referendum, according to the Carroll County Board of Elections website.

According to the Maryland Cannabis Administration, there are two cannabis dispensaries in Carroll County, The Dispensary and Verilife Dispensary, both in Westminster. Both are under the city’s, not the county’s, jurisdiction.

Though Carroll commissioners have said they do not support recreational cannabis, current county codes do nothing to regulate where dispensaries can be placed.

The county zoning code contains regulations that govern the growing, processing or dispensing of medical marijuana. A medical marijuana shop must be located at least 400 feet from a residence. An ordinance proposed by the county Planning and Zoning Commission would expand countywide regulations for the distribution of medical marijuana to apply to recreational cannabis use.

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Reporter Sherry Greenfield contributed to this story.

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