Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37496145›Full record

SynthesisAddiction (Abingdon, England)2023

The impact of cannabis legalization and decriminalization on acute poisoning: A systematic review.

Sara Allaf, Jessy S Lim, Nicholas A Buckley, Rose Cairns

Abstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Observational
  5. Article
  6. Adverse Effects of Non-Medical Use of Cannabis or Opioids Associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026
    Article
  7. Impact of legalization on cannabis exposure calls to the British Columbia Poison Control Centre.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2026
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Sara AllafFaculty of Medicine and Health, School of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Jessy S LimFaculty of Medicine and Health, School of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Nicholas A BuckleyNew South Wales Poisons Information Centre, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-6326-4711
Rose CairnsFaculty of Medicine and Health, School of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-8946-5079

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

aimsMany countries have recently legalized medicinal and recreational cannabis. With increasing use and access come the potential for harms. We aimed to examine the effect of cannabis legalization/decriminalization on acute poisoning.

methodsA systematic review and meta-analysis registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022323437). We searched Embase, Medline, Scopus and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception to March 2022. No restrictions on language, age or geography were applied. Abstracts from three main clinical toxicology conferences were hand-searched. Included studies had to report on poisonings before and after changes in cannabis legislation, including legalization and decriminalization of medicinal and recreational cannabis. Where possible, relative risk (RR) of poisoning after legalization (versus before) was calculated and pooled. Risk of bias was assessed with ROBINS-I.

resultsOf the 1065 articles retrieved, 30 met inclusion criteria (including 10 conference abstracts). Studies used data from the United States, Canada and Thailand. Studies examined legalization of medicinal cannabis (n = 14) and decriminalization or legalization of recreational cannabis (n = 21). Common data sources included poisons centre records (n = 18) and hospital presentations/admissions (n = 15, individual studies could report multiple intervention types and multiple data sources). Most studies (n = 19) investigated paediatric poisoning. Most (n = 24) reported an increase in poisonings; however, the magnitude varied greatly. Twenty studies were included in quantitative analysis, with RRs ranging from 0.81 to 29.00. Our pooled estimate indicated an increase in poisoning after legalization [RR = 3.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.43-5.20], which was greater in studies that focused on paediatric patients (RR = 4.31, 95% CI = 2.30-8.07).

conclusionsMost studies on the effect of medicinal or recreational cannabis legalization/decriminalization on acute poisoning reported a rise in cannabis poisoning after legalization/decriminalization. Most evidence is from US legalization, despite legalization and decriminalization in many countries.

Indexed as

CannabisHallucinogensMedical MarijuanaCanadaChildHumansLegislation, DrugUnited StatesHallucinogensMedical MarijuanaCannabidiolcannabisdecriminalizationlegalizationmarijuanapoisoning

Identifiers

PMID37496145
PMCPMC10952774

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.