Impact of Marijuana Legalization in Colorado on Adolescent Emergency and Urgent Care Visits

Purpose: Approximately 6%-8% of U.S. adolescents arc daily/past-month users of martjuana. However, survey data may not reliably reflect the impact of legalization on adolescents. The objective was to evaluate the impact of marijuana legalization on adolescent emergency department and urgent cares visits to a children's hospital in Colorado, a state that has allowed both medical and recreational marijuana. Methods: Retrospective review of marijuana-related visits by International Classification of Diseases codes and urine drug screens, from 2005 through 2015, for patients 13 and < 21 years old. Results: From 2005 to 2015, 4,202 marijuana-related visits were identified. Behavioral health evaluation was obtained for 2,813 (67%): a psychiatric diagnosis was made for the majority (71%) of these visits. Coingestants were common; the most common was ethanol (12%). Marijuana related visits increased from 1.8 per 1,000 visits in 2009 to 4.9 in 2015. (p =< .0001) Conclusions: Despite national survey data suggesting no appreciable difference in adolescent marijuana use, our data demonstrate a significant increase in adolescent marijuana-associated emergency department and urgent cares visits in Colorado. (C) 2018 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved.