Last month’s annual report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction has revealed that Danish cannabis is Europe’s strongest by far.
However, Metroxpress reports that according to figures it has obtained from Giftlinjen, Denmark’s poison control hotline, the use of marijuana has resulted in the number of Danes calling poison control centres to skyrocket in recent months.
Puff, puff, pass (out)
The figures revealed that last year, Giftlinjen received a total of 203 calls concerning cannabis overuse. The number of Danes seeking help at hospitals for the same reason has also increased.
Henrik Rindom, an expert who specializes in drug addiction, believes two factors explain the spike in numbers.
“Marijuana has become much stronger than before. But another factor could be that doctors have become more observant,” he said to Metroxpress.
“There may now be a tendency to identify marijuana as the actual cause when people come in complaining of other reasons.”
Bad trip
Marijuana abuse can cause a host of physical and psychological side-effects, according to some experts.
“The physical symptoms can be heart palpitations and dizziness due to low blood pressure,” said professor Kim Dalhoff, from Giftlinjen.
“Hash can also result in psychological symptoms, including short-term memory loss, hallucinations and paranoid psychosis.”
