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:

1. Prodromal phase: Nausea and early morning discomfort begin. Users increase cannabis consumption, thinking it will relieve symptoms.

2. Hyperemetic phase: Intense vomiting, dehydration and abdominal pain follow. Hot showers or baths provide temporary relief — a hallmark of CHS.

3. 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:

Just a moment...

(jamanetwork.com)

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).

Why more youth are landing in the ER with vomiting from cannabis use

Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome — with severe vomiting, abdominal pain and temporary relief through compulsive hot bathing — is increasingly affecting adolescents and young adults.

The Conversation (theconversation.com)

I am an old fellow who has been using cannabis almost daily since 1966. I have never heard of these symptoms. I hang out with many other old people with similar profiles. I have asked around nobody has heard of these symptoms. This article reads like bad AI.

Heavy cannabis use is associated with heightened risks of anxiety, depression, psychosis and self-harm.

So is antidepressant use.

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:

1. Prodromal phase: Nausea and early morning discomfort begin. Users increase cannabis consumption, thinking it will relieve symptoms.

2. Hyperemetic phase: Intense vomiting, dehydration and abdominal pain follow. Hot showers or baths provide temporary relief — a hallmark of CHS.

3. 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:

Just a moment...

(jamanetwork.com)

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).

Why more youth are landing in the ER with vomiting from cannabis use

Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome — with severe vomiting, abdominal pain and temporary relief through compulsive hot bathing — is increasingly affecting adolescents and young adults.

The Conversation (theconversation.com)

I don’t buy this “increased potency” argument as it sounds like the same anti-weed shit they’ve been saying since the 90s. We had concentrates and hash and vaporizers in the 2000s. Potency of the flower doesn’t matter much when you can rip volcano vapes from dawn till dusk. All these “CHS” stories also always mention the dumb “hurr Cannabis psychosis” shit which is the other Hallmark of old anti weed propaganda that makes me skeptical.

Idk, it kind of feels like hysteria or some related comorbidity with munchies. I’ve definitely known people who make themselves sick over and over again from eating too many Doritos

Gonna be really close to zero.

That’s correlation though. The reason you get prescribed antidepressants is a bias pick for already being a risk to self.

Enjoying a joint every now and then is far safer than toking every 30 minutes.

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.

I don’t have skin in the fame either way, but this is interesting https://poppot.org/2023/04/17/child-abuse-deaths-linked-to-thc-top-300/

When I was a kid it was alcohol poisoning and lots of kids even in my rural community died in ditches and at bush parties. There were 300 kids in my high school. Grades 9-12. We had 6 deaths from alcohol. Either consumption or drunk driving. I’d be interested to know how many kids are dying from cannabis ingestion or accidents related to.

I’m a daily user for years and I’ve never heard of this. I wonder if it has to do with the way they’re consuming it. Shady vapes from the internet could be causing trouble, not the thc itself.

Cannabis, totally safe, they said. Nobody ever gets hurt, they said. It’s not habit-forming, they said. 🫤

Ah ok, “they” meant cannabis magazines.

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.

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.

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.

What are these experts saying nowadays? What I see is a consensus that it has a pretty good move.

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.

I am an old fellow who has been using cannabis almost daily since 1966. I have never heard of these symptoms. I hang out with many other old people with similar profiles. I have asked around nobody has heard of these symptoms. This article reads like bad AI.

It’s still the safest recreational substance in existence by a fantastically wide margin

I am an old fellow who has been using cannabis almost daily since 1966. I have never heard of these symptoms. I hang out with many other old people with similar profiles. I have asked around nobody has heard of these symptoms. This article reads like bad AI.

It’s real, a person I know went through it. They basically just smoked a bong all day, every day. Creates a paralysis like effect on your intestines.

I’ve read a little about it once in a while. Apparently one of the ways to treat this is to administer haloperidol, an antipsychotic, to relieve the symptoms. It’s not a very long lasting condition either, especially if the user can recognize that weed’s causing it and just stops for a little while.

I’m a daily user for years and I’ve never heard of this. I wonder if it has to do with the way they’re consuming it. Shady vapes from the internet could be causing trouble, not the thc itself.

I smoked dope and hash like a fiend when I was a kid, I never experienced or even heard of this.

Though I did get the munchies.