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Tourist pot complaints up at Colorado emergency rooms, study shows

Posted at 4:46 PM, Feb 24, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-21 10:34:23-04

Colorado's tourists aren't just buying weed now that it's legal -- they're ending up in emergency rooms at rates far higher than residents.

That's according to a study that will be published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Doctors reviewed marijuana-related emergency-room admissions at a hospital near Denver International Airport during 2014, the first year recreational pot sales became legal.

The physicians found that the rate of emergency-room visits possibly related to marijuana doubled among out-of-state residents.

Among Colorado residents, the rate of emergency-room visits possibly related to cannabis use did not change significantly between 2013 and 2014.

The doctors say there needs to be more education about pot aimed at visitors.

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