SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - Health officials at Memorial Medical Center are on the alert for marijuana overuse.
EMS system manager Sara Brown said thousands of marijuana-related emergency room visits occur in the United States every year, but the most frequent injury is consuming too much.
"Marijuana is a type of depressant to your system. People take it to try to relax, to get over stress," Brown said. "One of the challenges now with it becoming legal in Illinois is, that illegal stigma is gone. Now it seems more welcoming to people, but those people have never been exposed to it before."
According to Brown, an overdose is unlikely, but ingesting too much marijuana is possible, especially for people not familiar with the potency of the drug.
"People don't feel the effect, or they don't feel the desired effect, so they take more," Brown said. "They're not realizing you don't get that instantaneous effect and by time you get the effect, you've taken too much."
Brown said she warns new users to be cautious and use common sense, especially when using edible products.
"They look like candy," Brown said. "They taste like candy and to little kids, they are candy."
According to Brown, people should treat marijuana like they would any other medication by educating themselves and using it responsibly.
