As cannabis use among youth rises in Canada — and THC potency reaches record highs — emergency departments are seeing a surge in cases of a once-rare condition: cannabis hyperemesis syndrome (CHS).
Characterized by relentless vomiting, abdominal pain and temporary relief through compulsive hot showers or baths, CHS is increasingly affecting adolescents and young adults. Yet few people — including many clinicians — know it exists.
Canada ranks among the highest globally for youth cannabis use, with 43 per cent of 16-19-year-olds reporting use in the past year. Usage peaks among those 20–24 years, with nearly half (48 per cent) reporting past-year use.
This rise in regular, heavy use coincides with a 400 per cent increase in THC potency since the 1980s. Strains with THC levels above 25 per cent are now common. As cannabis becomes more potent and accessible, clinicians are seeing more cases of CHS, a condition virtually unheard of before 2004.
CHS unfolds in three phases:
Prodromal phase: Nausea and early morning discomfort begin. Users increase cannabis consumption, thinking it will relieve symptoms.
Hyperemetic phase: Intense vomiting, dehydration and abdominal pain follow. Hot showers or baths provide temporary relief — a hallmark of CHS.
Recovery phase: Symptoms resolve after stopping cannabis entirely.
Diagnosis is often delayed. One reason is because CHS mimics conditions like gastroenteritis or eating disorders, leading to costly CT scans, MRIs and gastric emptying tests. One telltale sign — compulsive hot bathing — is frequently overlooked, despite its strong diagnostic value.
Youth face unique risks. The brain continues to develop until about age 25, and THC exposure during this critical window can impair cognitive functions like memory, learning and emotional regulation. Heavy cannabis use is associated with heightened risks of anxiety, depression, psychosis and self-harm.
Edit, the link in the article goes to this study:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2796355
Results There were 12 866 ED visits for CHS from 8140 individuals during the study. Overall, the mean (SD) age was 27.4 (10.5) years, with 2834 individuals (34.8%) aged 19 to 24 years, 4163 (51.5%) females, and 1353 individuals (16.6%) with a mental health ED visit or hospitalization in the 2 years before their first CHS ED visit. Nearly 10% of visits (1135 visits [8.8%]) led to hospital admissions. Monthly rates of CHS ED visits increased 13-fold during the 7.5-year study period, from 0.26 visits per 100 000 population in January 2014 to 3.43 visits per 100 000 population in June 2021. Legalization was not associated with an immediate or gradual change in rates of ED visits for CHS; however, commercialization during the COVID-19 pandemic period was associated with an immediate increase in rates of CHS ED visits (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.49; 95% CI, 1.31-1.70). During commercialization, rates of CHS ED visits increased more in women (IRR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.16-1.92) and individuals older than the legal age of cannabis purchase (eg, age 19-24 years: IRR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.19-2.16) than men (IRR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.85-1.37) and individuals younger than the legal age of purchase (IRR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.42-1.45).
Cannabis, totally safe, they said. Nobody ever gets hurt, they said. It's not habit-forming, they said. 🫤
It's still the safest recreational substance in existence by a fantastically wide margin
Safe in the sense that it won't kill you outright like fentanyl.
But it's not safe.
It doesn't have to be as bad as other drugs to be a cause for concern.
Safe in the sense that it won't kill you at all, yes, in a literal sense, in a "you're either stupid or lying if you pretend otherwise" sense. This is the most alarmist article anyone could come up with and it describes vomiting and moderate discomfort that goes away again forever as soon as you take a tolerance break. You are a joke.
I'm assuming then, that you aren't aware of the decades of research on cannabis, especially when smoked, showing harm in other areas of human health?
Have a read.
Nothing in your link proves me wrong, if you'd bothered to read it you'd know that, you're either illiterate or lying
Oh, come on now. You are arguing in bath faith if you couldn't find one thing that "proves you wrong".
Here are just a few from that link, and each topic is explored in depth if you click through the supporting links on that page:
No proof whatsoever that the referenced psychotic disorders were caused by cannabis use, correlative misrepresentation is nothing new for anti-marijuana propaganda.
Smoking anything is bad for lung health, does nothing to change the fact that marijuana is the safest recreational substance in existence, especially when ingested in any other way.
"May supress the immune sustem" no evidence provided lol, unsubstantiated speculation, embarassingly weak
"Can increase risk of developing schizophrenia" also well documented that it has no chance whatsoever of causing schizophrenia in individuals that aren't already hereditarily prone to developing it, at most it can accelerate onset
I'm not going to waste my time individually addressing the many unsubstantiated claims you've copypasted here, it's clear you don't actually give a shit about what's true and are just here to push an agenda. Get a job.
You didn't read any of it.
The safest in a group of harmful things doesn't make it safe!
Here's what the research says:
"The review of published research shows that cannabis use may impair immune function in many instances and thereby exerts an impact on viral infections including human immune deficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C infection (HCV), and human T-cell lymphotropic type I and II virus (HTLV-I/II)." Maggirwar SB, Khalsa JH. The Link between Cannabis Use, Immune System, and Viral Infections. Viruses. 2021;13(6):1099. Published 2021 Jun 9. doi:10.3390/v13061099
Again, more studies to help you:
"This adds to the substantial evidence base that has previously identified cannabis use to associate with increased risk of schizophrenia, by suggesting that the relationship is causal. Such robust evidence may inform public health messages about cannabis use, especially regarding its potential mental health consequences." Vaucher J, Keating BJ, Lasserre AM, et al. Cannabis use and risk of schizophrenia: a Mendelian randomization study. Mol Psychiatry. 2018;23(5):1287-1292. doi:10.1038/mp.2016.252
"To date, the research on the impact of its use has largely been epidemiological in nature and has consistently found that cannabis use is associated with schizophrenia outcomes later in life, even after controlling for several confounding factors." Casadio P, Fernandes C, Murray RM, Di Forti M. Cannabis use in young people: the risk for schizophrenia. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2011;35(8):1779-1787. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.04.007
There are dozens more, if you need them.
Several more paragraphs of alarmist drug war bullshit, didn't work the first time idk why you'd think repeating the same failed strategy would yield different results.
I never said smoking anything was safe or harmless, I said marijuana was safer than any other recreational drug by far regardless of ingestion method, and that any method other than inhalation completely negates any respiratory effects.
Your first study, linked directly because it's actually really easy to do https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8229290/
From the conclusion: "...data are not sufficiently strong to suggest that cannabis use adversely affects the progression of viral diseases...it is also evident that cannabis or its constituents, including THC and CBD, have some beneficial effects such as improving appetite and food intake in patients with HIV/AIDS and positive effects in patients with hepatic steatosis"
So not only does your first source not support your claims, it actually says a whole bunch of the opposite!
Your second study https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7442038/
Again, direct quotes: "We have evidence suggesting that cannabis use, primarily THC in cannabis, in genetically predisposed or at-risk populations, leads to earlier diagnosis of psychosis/schizophrenia."
Oh hey look, that's literally exactly what I said! And it goes on
"Recent trials in therapeutic CBD use are showing its alleviating effect on positive symptoms of schizophrenia and its opposing effect on THC, which warrants further research."
So not only is there no evidence of any risk of psychosis or schizophrenia for anyone who isn't already genetically predisposed, but there's actually evidence that specific cannabinoids in isolation can alleviate symptoms! Wow, another source betrays you
Your third study https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S014976341100073X
And more direct quotes that clearly illustrate how stupid you are: "...cannabis use is clearly not an essential or sufficient risk factor as not all schizophrenic patients have used cannabis and the majority of cannabis users do not develop schizophrenia."
I don't doubt for a moment that you could post a dozen more studies, and I'm just as certain that they'd all also do nothing to support your inane claims. You lose! If you had any dignity at all you'd admit it, but I think we both know you don't.
I truly appreciate the time you took to read the studies. I respect that, however, the personal attacks are unwarranted, and you're more than welcome to debate the experts who've compiled the data, if you like.
Let's take things one at a time, but it should also be noted that much of the research cited are medicinal users of cannabis (including those prescribed by doctors), not recreational, which is what the actual OP is about. You avoided touching on any of those from the long list by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.
You conveniently left out the parts before that:
"Research suggests a link between cannabis, immune function, and viral infections. Cannabis use may be associated with adverse effects on immune function and, thereby, increase the risk of acquiring or transmitting infections such as HIV and HCV. "
The part you bring up has to do with viral progression, which is different. And the fact that more research is needed in this area (per the study), doesn't clear cannabis from harm.
The benefits of increased appetite in someone who is dying is great! Too bad, that has no relevance to the general population, so the risks outweigh the benefits.
That doesn't appear to be the study I linked, but we agree, increased risks.
But why did you skip the most important parts of the conclusion?
"Neuroimaging studies show the detrimental effect of cannabis on brain morphology, especially adolescent brains. "
"...there is still more harm from cannabis than benefits, and adolescent cannabis usage should be discouraged at all costs."
That's pretty damning for something considered safe, wouldn't you agree?
Trials... therapeutic CBD... that sounds considerably different from recreational use outside of a medical setting, no? Like the type of use they would like to see discouraged "at all costs".
Anyway, the study I linked is: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5984096/
"In summary, a genetic approach—representing an alternative to assessing causality when a randomized controlled trial would be unethical—strongly supports the hypothesis that use of cannabis is causally related to risk of schizophrenia."
This was my oversight, and I apologize for that.
That review paper was quite outdated, and the same author has a much more recent study available: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7646282/
"In conclusion, our findings confirm previous evidence of the harmful effect on mental health of daily use of cannabis, especially of high-potency types. Importantly, they indicate for the first time how cannabis use affects the incidence of psychotic disorder. Therefore, it is of public health importance to acknowledge alongside the potential medicinal properties of some cannabis constituents the potential adverse effects that are associated with daily cannabis use, especially of high-potency varieties."
I hope that covers it. There seems to be more than enough evidence to suggest that cannabis is not safe, even for being the "safest recreational drug".
Edit: grammar/spelling.
Idk what part of "you lost" is confusing you, you have been proven completely wrong and as predicted you refuse to admit it. The personal attacks are entirely warranted, you're a lying sack of shit.
I'm sorry that your mental health is in such a bad state.
I read in your other comment that you've been a daily cannabis user for decades, and now I can understand your aggressive defense of the drug, and your unhinged behaviour.
I wish you said that sooner. Your agenda is to defend your addiction, so there was never an honest discussion here.
It was fun. Get some help.
You're not sorry for shit, you're just upset that you got caught deliberately misrepresenting the contents of those studies, and now you're looking to do the same thing about me personally because you don't have to a leg to stand on and you know it. Nobody ever calls daily coffee drinkers addicts, it's psychoactive and far easier to die from. Your bullshit is painfully obvious and nobody is buying it. Get a job.
I'm not upset about anything. The studies speak for themselves.
No, that extra bit of information gives me context for understanding where you're coming from.
You were never going to be receptive of the facts, because they'd contradict the story you've been telling yourself about the "safest" harmful recreational drug.
I just never realized that was your motivation until just now.
Who's arguing about coffee, anyway?
This feels like playing chess with a pigeon, TBH.
Ok, buddy. "You win."
Not really what serious advocates ever said. Maybe what random people on the Internet sometimes said?
Before legalization, pretty much every cannabis magazine and website was being cited as saying it was totally safe. Even mocked people for thinking otherwise.
That changed public opinion, and experts were ignored. These risks were known many years ago, so why has the industry been allowed to keep selling stronger strains, marketing to young people, and making these drugs available everywhere?
Now that the consequences are being seen, what are we going to do about it? This shit is being sold at every street corner, sometimes multiple cannabis shops at the same intersection. It's nuts.
Ah ok, "they" meant cannabis magazines.
The experts were on the side of legalization, so they weren't really ignored. If by experts you mean people who study public health policy and narcotrafficking.
What are these experts saying nowadays? What I see is a consensus that legalization was a pretty good move. There's probably more we should do, but it's stuff that builds on top of legalization.
Before legalization, there really weren't many other places promoting cannabis (maybe there was, but marketing back then was very different from now), so the promotion of their safety came from those sources (unfortunately).
Worse yet, as the plans to legalize were getting closer, I remember a massive push on social media by people promoting cannabis as a cure-all for just about anything: mental health, cancer, anxiety, bowel problems, etc. They used the Trojan horse of “medicinal use” to bring it into everyone's life.
I'm sure there was industry influence, because it was extremely rare to see people pointing out the harms of cannabis back then.
Decriminalization is one thing, and experts were certainly in support of decriminalization.
But legalization, as in "allow stores to sell these everywhere and to everyone", just like alcohol and cigarettes, became a fucking disaster, and now we are seeing the result of what the experts warned us about.
Again, they still agree that decriminalization was the right move. But experts, doctors, law enforcement, educators... all see what a disaster this has become.
We knew that normalizing cannabis and selling it everywhere would lead to more DUI, more hospitalizations, more poisoning of small children, lower academic performance in teens... just wait until the wave of long-term harm begins to surface. How will our healthcare system even handle that burden? Experts have warned us for decades, and still do.
Looks like we have different groups of experts in our respective informational sources
The "experts" looked a lot different on 2016 Social Media... and that's what drove much of the public support.
The real experts would have never wanted cannabis to be sold and promoted the way it has been.
Only marketing I’ve seen is anti-drug ads
And per the above article, drinking until you puke seems to be worse
Recently, or around the time of legalization? Even pulling up Google Maps will highlight the cannabis shops, which is an insidious way to promote them.
Both? But I only use maps to find addresses I know
You're lucky, I guess. Even just driving/riding around, I see cannabis shop signs everywhere. And I don't want to see them, so I can only imagine how they stick out to an addict or vulnerable person.
Alcoholic here. Booze at every restaurant, at every corner store, empty cans in the ditch, at every sporting event, liquor stores everywhere, every adult gathering I go to and most family ones too has booze, concerts, music venues even the movies have booze now. It need to all go. I don't want to see it. I also don't want to see maple magats, huge diesel trucks idling with no one in them, indigenous people being arrested,killed and harassed for existing, churches...I hate fucking churches...every single one needs to go. Google maps also has all those places. They're promoting hatred and alcoholism.
You sound like a child.
Sounds like we agree.
Not sure what any of that has to do with drugs harming kids, but OK.
They are. We agree on that, too.
OK. We seem to be agreeing on the same things, so... I guess you sound like a child, too? 🤔
I have concerns about drugs influencing our most vulnerable, and the external pressures that make it difficult for them to avoid it.
As an alcoholic, one would think you'd agree that it's a problem.
Not sure what your personal beef with me is, though. 🤷♂️
You are using an argument you have no idea about. You sound childish. Framing it to protect me and people like me is a cop out because you do not understand us at all or addiction and recovery so it's certainly not about that. It is evident in the way you speak and your ideas about people in situations like mine.
My comments were sarcasm. Obviously lost on you. To think that you could eliminate or hide everything that offends someone from life completely is also a childish outlook. It's simply not possible and most grown ups recognise this.
On the other hand....can we start with the churches? Should we burn or bulldoze them?
"Everything". I never suggested such.
Look, we were able to drop cigarette use by using simple strategies like not having them displayed "in your face" at shops, and cutting advertising.
If we can't do the same for other drugs, then it's due to a lack of trying.
We dropped cigarette use with a massive anti smoking campaign that lasted decades. Not by hiding it behind the counter.
How come I can't extend your outrage to churches? Seems a reasonable expectation since we're hiding things that destroy lives.
We used many approaches, which should be applied to the currently promoted drugs you see being sold in stores.
Churches... the building? Or religion? I'd love to organized religion die, but church buildings should stand as either historical landmarks, or repurposed to house the homeless.
Where do we start?
A disaster? Be serious
Education! Real, honest education to school age kids. Prohibition just creates a more dangerous black market, and lying (by hyperbole) about drug effects makes kids not believe the warnings which is just as bad (see: US’s failed D.A.R.E. Program in the 90s where they said marijuana is as bad as heroin)
I don't think prohibition is the way to go. But we (society) should treat these drugs like we treat cigarettes: keep them out of view (i.e. "behind the counter") and stop allowing them to be marketed at every street corner.
I view it from the perspective of someone who might never want to get into drugs, or may have recently become sober: they see cannabis shops at every turn, they are being primed to fail, and that's not right.
We were able to get sensible people to stop smoking once we stopped allowing cigarettes to be displayed and marketed everywhere. I feel we need to do the same for cannabis (and alcohol) because of the harm we are causing to the most vulnerable in our society (youth and the poor).
One could argue it is safe in reasonable moderation. CHS devlops due to extreme and excessive daily use of cannabis. Enjoying a joint every now and then is far safer than toking every 30 minutes.
If i ate 30 chocolate bars everyday for weeks on end, I'd have some serious health issues, but one every weekend would be nearly unnoticeable from a health perspective.
The problem is, what Health Canada once labelled as "heavy use" is pretty much normal use these days. Daily use, or using multiple times a day, is very common.
If people (and teens) were only consuming once in a while, I doubt we'd be in this mess.
They consume often, partly because they've been told "it helps with XYZ", so they self-medicate, which leads to greater problems. But also because they believe it's "safe".
Single cannabis use can also lead to acute impairment and puts stresses on the body. I've never heard of someone getting in a car and killing someone because they were impaired on having chocolate that afternoon. 😆
You are being down voted but this exact thing happened to somebody I know. The repeal of criminalization, without a better education plan, gave them the idea that "Oh its fine now". They became addicted to smoking it, spent all day every day just hitting a bong. Stopped working, had to repeat a year at uni to get courses on track. They've had to completely abstain, or they fall back into the spiral. Some people get addicted to alcohol, some its another drug entirely.
I'm being downvoted because addicts have to defend and justify their addiction, unfortunately.
I had a family member who also went through the same. They developed psychosis (Cannabis-induced depersonalization-derealization disorder) through daily use of cannabis, and ended up needing to get treatment after their life went downhill.
Stopped once the weed stopped, but it was an alarming transition, and not an easy addiction to break.
They only became hooked once legalization came into effect, since it was accessible from anywhere.
I've already corrected your misinterpretation of the studies on several occasions, so there's no need to continue to belabour the point. If you want to argue about it to the authors of those studies, I'm sure they'd love to hear from you.
This is not a "war on drugs", but a public health concern. You're free to harm yourself however you like. But the public, especially our youth, should be better informed of the risks, especially while the chatter about cannabis being "safe" is still being thrown about casually.
I had to check if we were in the same family/circle. Besides the one situation I mentioned, what you described happened happened to a family friend also. Quite a scary time for those around the person that didn't know what was happening to them (because isolation had led to less interaction), but luckily the ones that got hints took them in to make sure they were OK. And turned out it was bad psychosis and required a few weeks hospitalization.
I'm a let people do what they want guy, but claiming marijuana is harmless is dangerous.