As pediatric cannabis hospitalizations increase in Mass., company points to hemp market
September 23, 2025
As pediatric cannabis hospitalizations increase in Mass., company points to hemp market
Data from the Massachusetts Department of Health shows a surge in cases of children being hospitalized after ingesting cannabis, often accidentally, and Insa says an unregulated hemp market is a driving factor.
An unregulated hemp market in Massachusetts is helping drive a surge in cannabis exposure in kids, according to Insa, a licensed cannabis company operating in the state.
NBC10 Boston obtained health data from the Massachusetts Department of Health that confirms the surge.
WATCH HEREIn a 36-month period, ending in 2023, cases in which children under age 13 were taken to the emergency room after ingesting cannabis were up 97% when compared to the same prior timeframe.
Typically, the ingestion was an accident. Often, the hallucinations were severe.
“They’ll develop something that we call ‘cannabis-induced psychosis,’ meaning that they actually have sort of a lapse of their connection with reality,” said Dr. Scott Hadland at Mass General for Children. “They’ll hear things that aren’t there or see things that aren’t there.”
Insa’s research, reviewed by NBC10 Boston, points to retail outlets from Boston to Springfield operating in a legal hemp market, but deploying legally questionable tactics.
In one Springfield example, Insa reports buying “edible gummies advertised as containing 500 mg of THC per serving — almost 100 times the legal limit.”
Disturbingly, the product was called “Stoner Patch Dummies.” The packaging was indistinguishable from Sour Patch Kids gummy candy, popular with young children.
“We didn’t create a legal market to be usurped by this gray market with untested, unregulated products that aren’t child-resistant and has packaging that appeals to kids,” said Steve Reilly, general counsel at Insa.
Selling hemp in the U.S., as defined in the 2018 Farm Bill, is safe. And that harmlessness means officials rarely police its sale in smoke shops and gas stations, for example. However, Insa maintains, the lack of enforcement has led to unscrupulous behavior that is competitively unfair to the legal cannabis market and a risk to children.
Reilly believes a fix in Congress on the 2018 Farm Bill is the most effective route to a solution, but a bill in the Massachusetts Legislature that has already passed the House would help in the meantime.
It’s not on the Senate’s legislative agenda for the next session, which worries Sen. John Keenan.
“Accidental marijuana ingestion poses serious and rising risks to children,” he said.
In Springfield, they did not wait for federal or state legislation. In June, the City Council unanimously passed an ordinance to more closely regulate the sale of hemp products. It was the first municipality in the state to take such action.
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