UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio — Experts are weighing in after five Upper Arlington elementary school students ate marijuana edibles last week.
Records say a man's 10-year-old daughter brought the gummies to school on Friday and shared them with four of her friends. The girl reportedly mistook them for leftover Easter candy.
“This is something we’ve been worried about especially as the push for full legalization of marijuana is being discussed in the state of Ohio,” said Fran Gerbig, the Executive Director of Prevention Action Alliance.
Gerbig said one of the main things to keep an eye on is the access kids have to illegal drugs in their homes.
“We need to treat it just like we would with any kind of narcotic, any kind of prescription drug,” Gerbig said.
The Central Ohio Poison Center received the following total number of calls related to marijuana edible exposures in children:
- 2020: 77 calls
- 2021: 100 calls
- 2022: 57 calls to date
According to the center, the increase is less tied to the specific dates and more likely due to legalization and the higher prevalence of these products in society.
The center recommends keeping products up, away, out of sight, preferably in a locked location.
“If this is something we’re going to have in our home, then we need to take a lesson from the prescription drug misuse problem that the state of Ohio has been addressing and make sure that any kind of marijuana in our home is safely secured, utilized and when it’s not going to be used, that it’s disposed of properly,” Gerbig said.
Gerbig stresses that ongoing conversations with your children are vital.
“We need to help them understand that if they’re not given candy from a trusted adult, or if they have any suspicions on something a friend might be giving them, it’s OK to say no and we need to help them practice those refusal skills,” Gerbig shares. “And we need to help them understand that it’s OK to have those conversations with trusted adults if they have those concerns.”