Drugs that look like snacks, a concern for deputies and doctors as children end up in the ER

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — They look and taste like candy, but they’ll get anyone, including children, high. Children eating THC-infused snacks and candy is a problem that’s become worse in recent years, concerning law enforcement and doctors.

Deputies with the Wake County Sheriff’s Office have seized THC products that mimic bags of Doritos, Fritos, Chips Ahoy, Fruity Pebbles and more.

“That’s marketing towards children and we don’t want them to get their hands on it,” said Wake County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. David Bradford.

Bradford said the problem has become worse in recent years.

“A kid comes home from school and their parents are partaking in this stuff, and then they don’t know, and they grab it and they ingest it, boom, hospital visit,” said Bradford.

Hospital visits

Those hospital visits are something UNC Medical Center Pediatric Emergency Department Director Dr. Daniel Park says happens more often than you’d think. He said oftentimes parents have no idea what’s wrong with their child.

“A lot of it is not witnessed,” said Park. “So, the families are very, very scared that their young child is altered, so, they’re stumbling around, they’re not responding normally.”

Dr. Park said last year UNC doctors treated more than a dozen children in the ER for adverse cannabis effects. He said they see babies and toddlers most.

“In that exploratory phase of like, ‘what is that,’ you know, ‘like this looks like candy,’ ‘this is a cookie,'” Park said.

CBS 17 asked Dr. Park how challenging it is to figure out what happened to a child when they come in after eating a THC product.

“That’s the question, because undifferentiated altered mental status in a child can be very, very tricky,” Park said. “The what we call ‘differential diagnosis’ is quite long.”

In addition to an altered mental state, Dr. Park said another common side effect is an increased heart rate.

Doctors often need to do a wide range of tests when children come in in an altered state. With unintentional THC consumption becoming more common, some doctors want to change the approach of examining children in hopes of identifying THC as the cause for the altered state sooner. Dr. Park said some doctors are advocating for a urine toxicology test pretty much immediately.

“I would say that there’s a direct practice change from the increased incidence of what’s happening,” Park said.

Problem increasing

An American Academy of Pediatrics Analysis of National Poison Data found a 1,375% increase in children under six ingesting edible cannabis from 2017 to 2021, with 207 reported cases in 2017 and 3,054 cases in 2021.

Marijuana is illegal in North Carolina, and if a child gets their hands on illegal THC products from a family member, Sgt. Bradford said there could be additional charges.

In November, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office charged a mother with two counts of misdemeanor child abuse in addition to possession of a controlled substance. Arrest warrants said her two toddlers ate THC gummies that were in her room.

Sgt. Bradford said the most common ways deputies seize edible drugs are searches during traffic stops and discovering them while executing warrants.

“We had to pay close attention to it,” Bradford said. “We go to a house or something like that on a 911 call and that’s sitting on the counter, that’s something that law enforcement, of course, should be cognizant of.”

Keeping kids safe

Last summer, the FTC and FDA issued cease and desist letters to six companies for packaging edibles that look like snacks children enjoy.

That’s why Dr. Park tells parents the best way to keep kids safe is don’t bring edibles into your home, but if they are present, hide them like alcohol or medication. He said when a parent does have to bring their child to the ER, they often feel very remorseful after the fact.

“When it’s actually happening, they don’t know what’s happening,” Park said. “And that’s one of the issues with ingested cannabis is the delayed effect, often hours after the ingestion, and often it’s unwitnessed, so it can be very tricky.”

Dr. Park said the recovery time for children really depends on how much THC they consume. He said studies are being done to figure out what threshold dose is predictive of severe and prolonged toxicity. While hospital visits are rising, he said it is extremely rare for a child to die from THC.

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