Emergency rooms report severe reactions as stronger cannabis products overwhelm users.
Since recreational marijuana became legal in New York, hospitals have seen a large spike in people coming to emergency rooms with symptoms that seem tied to cannabis use. Many show up with severe vomiting, a rapid heart rate, and intense panic, often convinced they’re about to die. These visits are putting pressure on emergency departments that are already stretched thin. In 2023 alone, New York recorded more than 135,000 cannabis-related ER trips—almost double the number reported just two years earlier.
Central New York has been hit harder than any other region. Hospitals in that area reported nearly 13,000 cannabis-linked visits in 2023. That’s more than one for every hundred people who live there. Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse now sees at least one person a week who needs to stay overnight because of severe dehydration from vomiting. Some patients can’t keep down any fluids and require IV treatment just to recover.
Doctors at Upstate, like emergency medicine professor Deborah Mann, have seen firsthand how today’s cannabis products are different from those in the past. While marijuana was once considered fairly mild, modern products often have much higher levels of THC, the chemical that causes the drug’s mind-altering effects. These high levels are more likely to lead to unpleasant or dangerous reactions. That’s especially true when someone uses the drug repeatedly or in large amounts.
Children are also showing up in emergency rooms, often after accidentally eating marijuana gummies. Though it happens less often than with adults, the results can be much more serious. In some cases, a child stops breathing and has to be resuscitated. Some stay at Golisano Children’s Hospital for days or even weeks. So far, there have been no deaths in the region, but the long-term effects of these incidents remain uncertain. Doctors worry that oxygen loss in these cases might lead to lasting harm.
One reason the problem has grown is that there’s still very little research into how heavy or long-term cannabis use affects the body. Many people don’t know what a strong dose looks like, or how their bodies will react to it. Emergency room doctors are often left trying to rule out other causes before settling on cannabis as the source of someone’s symptoms. That can delay treatment and make the situation even scarier for the patient.
Emergency department chief William Paolo described it as playing a kind of game with the drug. Sometimes people are fine, but other times they end up in serious trouble, even if they’ve used before. This unpredictability makes it hard to prevent problems, especially among teenagers and young adults, who may be more likely to take risks or underestimate how strong certain products can be.
Dr. Jeff Lapoint, who trained at Upstate Medical University, compared modern cannabis to another legal drug—alcohol. He explained that the marijuana available today isn’t like a glass of wine or a bottle of beer. Instead, it’s more like jumping straight to a nearly pure alcohol drink like Everclear. His point was that while society has experience with older, milder versions of marijuana, today’s versions are much more powerful, and that changes the whole picture.
The rise in cannabis-related emergencies comes at a time when hospitals are already stretched thin by staffing shortages and an increase in mental health visits. Adding thousands of extra cases linked to marijuana puts more strain on nurses, doctors, and hospital systems. Though no adult deaths have been reported, the number of visits alone shows how serious the issue has become.
While cannabis is now legal for recreational use in New York, legal doesn’t always mean safe. The growing number of hospital visits shows that people are still learning how to manage the drug in its new, much stronger forms. For some, the lesson comes at a high cost—a night in the hospital, a terrifying trip to the ER, or a long stay for a child who mistook a gummy for candy.
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More potent and legal cannabis sends some to hospital: Central NY leads state in ER visits
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