Instances of Maine children ingesting marijuana have quadrupled since 2020, raising questions and concerns among lawmakers and state officials about whether deregulation has created unintended health risks for kids.

In 2020, the Maine Child Death & Serious Injury Review Panel received 11 reports of marijuana ingestions by children. That number rose to 18 in 2021, 42 in 2022 and 46 in 2023.

So far this year, there have been 19 reports of marijuana ingestions, panel Chair Mark Moran told the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee at a hearing Wednesday.

“So between 2020 and 2023, that’s a four (times) increase in cannabis product ingestions,” Moran said.

The increase follows Maine’s implementation of recreational cannabis sales in 2020.

A new law that took effect in April adds marijuana gummies to a list of edibles that are exempt from a requirement that each serving be stamped or embossed with a universal symbol indicating they are cannabis-infused.

The data presented by Moran on Wednesday appeared to raise concerns among some lawmakers and state officials, who questioned whether more needs to be done to keep marijuana out of the hands of children and if the new law is a step in the right direction.

“If we truly believe we can have an impact on the health and well-being of children in Maine, we have to look at this issue,” said Rep. Michele Meyer, D-Eliot. “And it is with deep regret that I see the Legislature weakening regulations around labeling these products.”

A NATIONAL PROBLEM

John Hudak, director of the state Office of Cannabis Policy, told lawmakers at Wednesday’s meeting that accidental ingestion of marijuana by children is a national problem.

“It’s not just a problem in Maine or New England, it’s a problem that is nationwide,” he said. “It is one we need to take seriously and it’s an important one to bring data and science to the conversation in an effort to promote public health.”

Moran also noted that the problem comes with serious health concerns.

“Young children who have ingested marijuana or marijuana-containing products can present with a variety of symptoms,” he said, most often including tremors, difficulty walking or lethargy. Decreased heart rate, electrolyte imbalances, low blood pressure and agitation also can be symptoms.

Moran presented the marijuana data Wednesday in the context of a broader set of data on harmful ingestions by children reported to the panel that include opioids. Overall, he said total ingestions have risen from 31 in 2020 to 94 in 2023.

In response to a lawmaker’s question Wednesday, Moran said he did not have data on how many of those reports resulted in death or serious injury.

Separate data presented by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that almost of half of cannabis poisonings for children 12 and under in Maine between 2019 and 2023 resulted in “moderate or major” outcomes, meaning the effects were serious or potentially life-threatening.

NEW LAW IN EFFECT 

Both the Office of Cannabis Policy and the Maine CDC are taking steps to educate the public and minimize access by children, but officials said they have experienced challenges with recent changes in policies and state law.

Lexi Perry, a substance use prevention specialist for the Maine CDC, said those include changes to language around packaging and labeling, reduced regulations around the symbol on edibles, the legalization of free samples and the promotions of recreational cannabis.

Edible marijuana samples in 2018. Chris Carlson/Associated Press, file

Both Perry and Hudak said they have done work to promote safe storage of cannabis along with providing general education for families, community groups and retailers.

The Office of Cannabis Policy testified against the new law exempting gummies from the requirement for the universal symbol when it was before the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee last session, though Hudak said the agency ultimately agreed to the narrowed down version that passed because “it was the best scenario we could have gotten out of those negotiations.”

He said he remains concerned by efforts at deregulation around labeling and packaging. “There’s this constant desire to make changes to the adult use and medical programs and sometimes those changes do weaken the types of public health targets and efforts we try to promote,” Hudak said.

‘REEFER MADNESS 2.0’

Rep. David Boyer, R-Poland, who sponsored the new law removing the requirement that individual gummies be stamped or embossed, emphasized in a statement Wednesday that the law passed with a bipartisan supermajority and maintains other existing requirements that gummies be sold in child-resistant packaging labeled with the THC universal symbol.

“This is simply more Reefer Madness 2.0 from John Hudak and the OCP,” Boyer said. “He is doing the bidding of out-of-state corporations, trying to take over Maine’s homegrown industry we have worked so hard to maintain and protect.”

The committee didn’t take any action on the information presented to them at Wednesday’s meeting, though the issue could come up again.

Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, suggested to Hudak that he talk with the CDC and the governor’s office about ideas for legislation that could be submitted in the next session to improve safety and limit access to marijuana by children.

“I think we all agree this is an extremely important issue and the statistics show we need to address it,” Baldacci said.