University of Missouri campus leaders gathered Wednesday to learn more about the dangers of cannabis poisoning. The MU School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and College of Health Sciences teamed up for the inaugural “Three Deans’ Lecture.”
MU students, health care workers, and other interested people gathered on campus to hear how Dr. Roneet Lev handles cannabis poisoning and similar diagnoses.
Lev, an emergency physician at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, spoke about her experiences treating patients with different forms of cannabis poisoning.
Prior to returning for her second stint in San Diego, Lev was the first chief medical officer of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy from 2018 to 2020, with a focus on the opioid epidemic.
Lev shared her experiences on the most common ways that people encounter cannabis poisoning, which may lead to psychosis, better known as psychotic disorder.
“I’ve see patients who have cannabis-induced psychosis, who have used multiple times before, and this was the one time they had psychosis,” Lev said. “There’s no warning labels that say this could happen to you.”
Lev added that the warning labels on cannabis products can be very misleading.
“We’ve done studies on the labels and found that they are not accurate, you can’t trust the labels in terms of potency,” Lev said.
Dr. Christopher Sampson, an MU Health Care emergency medicine physician, added that he’s seen an increase in these cases locally.
“We see patients that come in and have symptoms of anxiety, they feel like their hearts racing, they’re sweating a lot, up to even, most severely, psychosis and seizures,” Sampson said.
Cannabis possession became legal in Missouri in December 2022, with sales beginning in February 2023.
“We’ve seen more patients come through with symptoms related to that since legalization,” Sampson said.
Both doctors cited overuse as the main cause of cannabis poisoning, and included that consumers should educate themselves before use.
KOMU 8 reached out to local dispensaries on the topic, who did not comment.
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