Cannabis-Linked ED Visits Increased With Exposure to Cannabis Retail Stores

TUESDAY, Dec. 9, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Neighborhoods that are exposed to cannabis retail stores have an increase in cannabis-attributable emergency department visits, according to a study published online Nov. 25 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Erik Loewen Friesen, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, and colleagues examined the association between exposure to cannabis retail stores and cannabis-related harms in a population-based natural experiment conducted between 2017 and 2022. Data were included from 6,140,595 persons aged 15 to 105 years from 10,574 neighborhoods. The opening of all cannabis stores was tracked to identify neighborhoods that became exposed (cannabis store within 1,000 meters).

The researchers found that before retail store openings, cannabis-attributable emergency department visits increased over time. The rate of cannabis-attributable emergency department visits remained constant in neighborhoods that became exposed to a cannabis store. However, the rate of emergency department visits decreased in matched unexposed neighborhoods. Compared with unexposed neighborhoods, neighborhoods that were exposed to retail stores had a monthly increase of 1.30 cannabis-attributable emergency department visits per 100,000 persons, equivalent to a 12 percent relative increase in the monthly rate of visits.

“These findings suggest that legalization accompanied by retail commercialization may be associated with a different risk for harm compared with legalization alone,” the authors write. “Restrictions on the number and location of cannabis retail stores may be a promising component of public health-oriented cannabis policies in regions considering or that have implemented cannabis legalization.”

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