THC in the ER

My fiancé’s pet name for me is Bed Head. Others think it has something to do with my hair in the mornings. It does not. It has to do with the night I called her from an ambulance. I was in the back, on a stretcher, on my way to the emergency room.

She asked how I was. I replied, “Fine, except my head is on the pillow and my body is on the floor.” When we got to the ER, the doctor asked me if I was hallucinating. I said “no” because the hallucinating part of my brain was convinced I would spend the rest of my life locked in a mental institution if I said “yes.”

I am a part of the edible marijuana ER statistics that led Washington state to delay edibles after legalizing marijuana. I suffer from panic disorder. Ironically, I sought out marijuana after being told it can help with anxiety. It can and does for many, many people. I am not one of them. For me, it led to the worst panic attack of my life that lasted more than eight hours, required an overnight hospital stay, and provided my friends with enough ammunition to make fun of me for years to come.

Here’s why edibles can lead to problems that don’t usually happen from smoking weed. First, it takes much longer for edibles to kick in. During the 30 minutes to two hours that it takes to start feeling the effects, many people take more. I had taken half of a THC-infused powdered candy in a tube that looked like a Pixie Stick. About an hour in, I didn’t feel anything so I took the other half. (My fiancé now gives me Pixie Sticks every Easter as well — the fun never stops!)

Second, and this is important, once you do get high, the high usually lasts much longer than one you would get from smoking marijuana. A high from an edible can last from six to 10 hours. For people who have a good reaction (the vast majority), this is great! For the rest of us, it can be a nightmare.

Finally, edibles often include several servings and it’s easy for inexperienced users to take too much. Because of this, Colorado lawmakers voted to limit the amount of THC per serving to 10 mg. Locals will soon be limited to buying 80 servings (about eight of the average 100 mg chocolate bars) and tourists will be able to buy up to 20 servings (that’s two of the 100 mg chocolate bars). A state panel recommends 1–5 mg for new consumers, 5–10 mg for occasional users, and 10–15 mg for people who use it frequently.

The New England Journal of Medicine recently published research out of Colorado that shows the number of marijuana-related ER visits doubled among out-of-staters between 2013 and 2014, while the number of ER visits for residents stayed about the same. This gives credence to the belief that inexperienced users are in more danger of taking too much. Others suggest the high altitude and vacation mentality are also contributors. Keep in mind there are far, far more visits to the ER for alcohol-related incidents, and nearly all of them are more serious.

Remember, no one ever died from consuming marijuana. It’s hard to wrap your brain around this when you’re in the middle of a THC-induced anxiety attack (a leading reason people go to the ER for marijuana-related incidents, by the way). Best advice: Take half the recommended dose, and wait at least one hour. If you still don’t feel anything, take the other half. If it does produce anxiety or hallucinations, keep in mind that it’s not going to last forever. People with anxiety often hyperventilate, making panic attacks worse. So, try to breathe slowly, get comfortable, and ride it out. It WILL end!