Child Abuse & Neglect 35 (2011) 563–565 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Child Abuse & Neglect Brief Communication A case series of marijuana exposures in pediatric patients less than 5 years of age George Sam Wang a,* , Sandeep K. Narang b , Kathryn Wells c , Ryan Chuang d a Section of Emergency Medicine, The Children’s Hospital, The University of Colorado at Denver, Aurora, CO, USA b Divison of Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA c Community Health Services, Denver Health Hospital, Denver, CO, USA d Rocky Mountain Drug and Poison Center, Denver Health Hospital, Denver, CO, USA a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 8 October 2010 Received in revised form 21 January 2011 Accepted 7 March 2011 Available online 3 August 2011 Keywords: Pediatric emergency medicine Toxicology Child abuse Marijuana Medical marijuana Introduction Marijuana refers to the dried materials of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa and herbal preparations contain over 400 com- pounds, including over 60 cannabinoids. The most potent psychoactive cannabinoid compound is  9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Effects include psychological euphoric effects, dose-related tachycardia associated with vasodilatation and conjunc- tiva injection, and appetite stimulation (Asthon, 2001). In Colorado, there has been a large increase in medical marijuana dispensaries and licenses for the use of medical mar- ijuana over the past year. The Department of Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division was recently created by legislation passed in July 2010. In August 2010, they received 818 applications for medical marijuana business licenses, 321 appli- cations for infused product business licenses, and 1,237 applications for optional premises cultivation (grow) business licenses (www.colorado.gov). This is a retrospective case series of marijuana exposures that have presented to the emergency department (ED) in children less than 6 years of age. Methods We performed a retrospective chart review of electronic health record from October 2009 to March 2010 for patients less than 5 years of age with the ICD-9 code 969.6 (poisonings by psychodysleptics, hallucinogens) at a tertiary care, freestanding children’s hospital. The Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board (COMIRB) approved this study. Abbreviations: THC, tetrahydrocannabinol; ED, emergency department; CBC, complete blood count; CMP, complete metabolic panel. * Corresponding author address: 13123 E 16th Ave B251, Aurora, CO 80045, USA. 0145-2134/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.03.012