Poisoned children: the trivialization of cannabis worries health professionals

As RMC revealed to you at the end of April, the number of children addicted to cocaine has doubled in three years . There were fewer than twenty in 2020, and more than forty in 2023. Behind these figures, there are tragedies, like this child who died almost a month ago in Brittany from cocaine poisoning .

But beyond this liberalization of cocaine, which leads to a resurgence of poisonings, health professionals are also concerned about the trivialization of cannabis consumption among children.

When one of the parents is a drug addict, it is rare that only cocaine is found in the children, assures the head of pediatric emergency services at Toulouse University Hospital, Dr. Isabelle Claudet.

Cannabis poisonings have remained at a very high level for the past ten years, she warns. Proportionally, cannabis is ten times more prevalent than cocaine, she estimates. This affects 400 to 600 children per year in pediatric wards, "with a significant proportion in intensive care, particularly the youngest, under two years old."

She sees them pass through hers every week. This is all the more worrying since "the increase in emergency room visits for cannabis poisoning," she says, "is directly linked to the increased concentration of active ingredients in cannabis resin."

Children arrive at the hospital with significant neurological problems, sometimes even in a coma. Isabelle Claudet often hears the same excuses from parents:

"We regularly have allegations of hashish pellets being found either in the park, on the balcony, or in the entrance of the building."

The professor observes a trivialization of consumption alongside children:

"It's like it's something that's part of the house, just like a bottle of red wine or a cigarette."

In poison control centers, the phenomenon is less pronounced. For the PACA-Corsica region, for example, there are now fewer than twenty calls per year, says Professor Nicolas Simon. This does not mean that the phenomenon is declining.

"When something becomes a regular occurrence, emergency room doctors call less because they know how to handle it." While anyone can call poison control centers, explains Nicolas Simon, emergency room doctors and intensive care units also turn to them when in doubt. The data on cocaine will be the subject of a scientific article. It is currently being published.