A growing number of marijuana users are landing in hospital emergency rooms with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), a painful condition linked to heavy cannabis use, according to an article by The Free Press’ Josh Code.
Code reported that CHS, sometimes called “marijuana syndrome,” has become increasingly common as the potency of legal cannabis skyrockets across the U.S. and Canada. Patients described days-long bouts of vomiting, nausea, and severe stomach pain, and the only known cure is to stop marijuana use.
Several young adults told Code about their experiences with CHS. One 27-year-old woman from Edmonton, Alberta, said she landed in the emergency room at least 10 times after Canada legalized marijuana, suffering from near-constant nausea for four years.
“It was pure misery,” she said. “Every 30 seconds, my body would just be forcibly keeping something out against my will.”
A college student from Wisconsin told Code he endured multiple hospitalizations and thousands in medical bills before learning the cause of his severe symptoms. During one hospital visit, he discovered an online CHS support group with more than 31,000 members describing identical symptoms.
A 2018 study cited by The Free Press estimated that 2.75 million Americans suffered from CHS each year as of 2018. Code reported that emergency room visits for the condition in the U.S. and Canada doubled between 2017 and 2021 as recreational marijuana — now legal in 24 states and nationwide in Canada — became increasingly accessible.
The cannabis industry is reportedly worth about $38 billion today and projected to hit $76 billion by 2030.
“There’s no question that as higher potency products have been available, incidents of CHS in emergency departments have gone up,” Chris Colwell, the chief of emergency medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, told Code. “We went from seeing this a couple of times a week to several times a day.”
Colwell said CHS patients are easily identifiable: “They’re up and about, moving around the room, writhing around in bed. They’re miserable.”
As CatholicVote reported in August, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classifies substances by their potential for abuse and accepted medical use. While marijuana is currently a Schedule I substance, the White House has discussed moving it to a Schedule III, which would ease restrictions but stop short of full legalization.
Following reports of the White House discussions, CatholicVote President Kelsey Reinhardt explained why CatholicVote joined more than 40 organizations to urge President Donald Trump to resist calls to reclassify the drug.
“Today’s cannabis is a high-potency, brain-altering substance linked to anxiety, psychosis, and addiction,” Reinhardt said. “Studies show it can trigger lifelong mental health disorders, especially in young people, yet its use is rising fast.”
Reinhardt argued that marijuana use undermines human reason and distorts a person’s ability to seek truth.
“God granted us dignity beyond every other creature,” she said. “We are made in His image and likeness in that we have reason and rational thought. Altering our ability to reason removes us from access to the truth — most importantly, the ultimate truth of God Himself.”
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