Marijuana By Metrocreative

A Freeport couple didn’t know what was making their 6-year-old son ill last week until marijuana was found in his system by the emergency department of UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Ashley Stadelmaier said her son started acting strangely about an hour after arriving at a local recreation facility with her husband, Ryan, on April 7.

“His eyes got red and puffy, and he laid down,” Ashley said about her son.

After the boy said he felt hungry, Ryan took him to a nearby restaurant.

“He was shaking holding his spoon, then he passed out on his plate,” she said.

Ryan called home, and Ashley said she told him that a fever the boy had the day before might have returned. Ryan brought their son back home where he became “completely incoherent.”

She said he couldn’t speak and felt “limp as a noodle in her arms.”

They took the boy to Children’s Hospital where he spent the night in the intensive care unit. He didn’t wake up until the next morning, she said.

Hospital tests found marijuana in his system, she said.

Ashley said neither she nor her husband use marijuana, and she can only assume her son ate a gummy or some other edible marijuana product that someone left or dropped at the recreational facility.

The hospital notified state police, and the county Children and Youth Services are now involved, she said.

“I can’t wait for this to be over,” she said. “It’s terrible that our family has to pay the price for someone else’s stupidity.”

Ashley said she wanted to share her story to protect other families.

State police confirmed that a report regarding the child consuming marijuana was filed, but said there was no evidence found to prove the child consumed the gummy at the facility.

Dr. Kavitha Conti, medical director of the emergency department at UPMC Children’s Hospital, said the hospital has seen an increase over the last several years in the number of children getting sick from ingesting food products containing marijuana.

“Often the concentration of cannabis in these edible products is higher,” Conti said. “It can be OK for an adult, but it’s concerning for a child.”

She said medical marijuana products come in different concentrations, and cannabis can be used in making cookies and brownies, which would look like treats to children. Families that have edible marijuana products in their homes should treat them like medicine and lock it up, she said.

Children who ingest marijuana can display symptoms that vary in severity from mild to severe. Symptoms can include sleepiness, confusion, loss of balance and difficulty breathing, Conti said. Severe cases can result in a child needing respiratory support, and developing seizures or other neurological abnormalities, she said.

“The effects it can have on kids is certainly concerning,” Conti said.

She advises parents who are unsure about the cause of their children’s illness to call 911 or get them to a hospital. Hospitals have to conduct numerous tests to find the cause, she said.

Eagle staff writer Molly Miller contributed to this report.