A new study in the journal JAMA Network Open reports troubling symptoms for many young people who are habitual users of marijuana: more and more teenagers, it says, are showing up in emergency rooms complaining of severe intestinal distress. The unusual illness—called cannabis hyperemesis syndrome—leaves them writhing, complaining of bad abdominal pain, and nausea, and they suffer from vomiting that can go on for hours. The report said there were more than 800,000 cases in Colorado between 2013 and 2019, a 29 percent increase since marijuana was legalized in the state. And more than a third of the vomiting cases were people under 25 years of age and younger. With more states legalizing marijuana, physicians say this is no longer a rare problem.
Meanwhile, marijuana legalization was supposed to end the black market for pot and provide a regulatory structure for the new industry to monitor and control the product. But guess what? California’s most-wanted pot products are ending up on the shelves of high-end dispensaries in New York City. Apparently, rule-breakers are selling untold millions of pounds of legally grown cannabis on the illicit market. And state cannabis regulators, who are fully aware of the industry’s worst kept secret, aren’t bothering to do anything about it. Under the law, this shouldn’t be happening—another example of the many promises that have been made about legalization that have not been fulfilled.
And finally, marijuana is now legal in Connecticut, but don’t think about light up a joint in a courthouse. The law does place some limits on where pot can be consumed, including public buildings, most workplaces, stores, and state parks. The judicial branch has also put in place a rule preventing possession inside a building—but because that hasn’t stopped people from lighting up, new signs are being posted that say “no cannabis allowed.”