Roanoke Prevention Alliance representative speaks out to raise awareness in children’s health and hemp products risks
ROANOKE, Virginia – Mackenzie Chitwood, a Prevention and Wellness Specialist at Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare, talks about the dangers that hemp products pose to our kids.
Mackenzie works for the Roanoke Prevention Alliance (RPA), whose goal is to help young people in the City of Roanoke become strong, healthy, and free of drugs and alcohol.
The RPA tries to make it harder for young people to use and get cannabis and THC products like Delta-8, Delta-10, etc.
At this time, it is not legal to sell cannabis products for recreational use in Virginia. Hemp can be grown legally as long as it doesn’t have more than.3% THC. Some of the hemp products you can buy at convenience stores are sprayed with chemicals. When you buy these products, you don’t know how much THC is in them or what is being sprayed on them. Most of the time, Delta-8 and Delta-10 products are the ones that have been changed chemically and sprayed. Testing at VCU showed that a product can have up to 10 times more THC than what it says on the package. This is true for Delta-8, Delta-10, and any other chemically changed THC. This could cause hallucinations, vomiting, tremors, anxiety, dizziness, confusion, and even losing consciousness.
Delta-8 and Delta-10 products can come in packaging that looks like candy and snacks that kids like, so there is a chance that kids won’t know the difference.
The number of calls to the poison control center about kids under 5 eating THC edibles went from 207 in 2017 to 2,054 in 2021. Also, 78% of children younger than 6 who eat THC-infused edibles are treated in a hospital, and 8% go to the ICU.
If a child takes delta-8 or a product like it, they may wobble when they walk, their eyes may look smaller or bigger than usual, and they may be more fussy than usual. Call poison control if a child has any of these symptoms and there is reason to think they have eaten delta-8 or something similar. Call 911 if a child isn’t breathing, can’t be woken up, or is having fits.
