Is Connecticut's New Legal Weed Market Provoking Shortages Of Medical Marijuana? Bumps In The Rollout

Connecticut's legal adult-use cannabis market launched a week ago. The first day of recreational cannabis sales, Jan 10, went smoothly with seven licensed shops selling $251,276 in weed by 5. p.m.

For now, customers seeking recreational cannabis seem happy with the offering. However, medical marijuana users have a few complaints.

"There's a little bit of concern, obviously, because you do see a couple of changes, nothing too big, which were to be expected because of adult recreational," said Carmita Melendez reported News 8. "Second cut is something that used to be readily available, which isn't anymore, and I think that's just because of the demand they don't have that option anymore."

Employees at the Fine Fettle, which launched recreational sales at three locations last week, said cultivators can't keep up with the demand.

"I think some of our medical patients were used to having a greater variety and there's been a little bit of a delay on the grower side in getting that variety out to us," said Dennis So, general manager of Newington's Fine Fettle. He added that only four of the sixteen growers chosen by the Social Equity Council are operational.

But in terms of shortages, the Department of Consumer Protection begs to differ: only gummies are experiencing shortages.

Officials Warn About Accidental Cannabis Ingestion In Children

As cannabis activists and shareholders praise this milestone in their effort to make marijuana mainstream. state officials warn about accidental consumption of edibles by children, reported NBC Connecticut.

"We're going to see a tenfold increase in the number of calls," said Dr. Bruce T. Liang, interim CEO of UConn Health, referring to a recent study revealing that the number of incidents in which children under six accidentally ate edible cannabis products rose 1,375% over the past five years.

The findings published in the journal Pediatrics showed that in 2021, 3,054 cases were reported compared to 207 in 2017. The results showed that of over 7000 confirmed cases, nearly a quarter of the children ended up in the hospital.

Unfortunately, results from another study published in Clinical Toxicology show a staggering 245% increase in cannabis abuse among adolescents since 2000. 

Liang cautions that accidental cannabis ingestion in children needs to be prevented.

"We are prepared to handle this to mitigate any safety concern for the children," he said. "We just need to do everything we can to prevent it.

Researchers attribute the rising trend to the widespread acceptance of edible cannabis products, which are often marketed in ways that are attractive to young people, leading to accidental ingestions.

"It looks like a cookie. It looks like a brownie. Why would a child not want to eat this," said Dr. Jody Terranova, president-elect of CT's chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "This is similar to what we saw when children were ingesting laundry detergent pods because they looked like candy, these products look even more like candy."

Photo: Courtesy of Budding on Unsplash