It's the first holiday season when smoking marijuana is legal. And that has healthcare officials issuing a warning about keeping marijuana edibles out of the reach of children.
Since legalization in October, the Montreal Children's Hospital has treated three cases involving children accidentally consuming cannabis edibles.
"For us that's a huge increase," said Liane Fransblow, trauma coordinator of the injury prevention program.
"On average we see zero to one case a year."
Fransblow told CJAD 800 News the first case was so severe the toddler had a seizure, needed to be intubated and admitted into the ICU.
The other two cases involving children aged two and four were not as serious.
Fransblow said the circumstances are typically the same: adults leave the marijuana edibles lying around and are not watching over the children who are invariably attracted to the candy or baked goods.
"Our big concern is that it's still, for children, it can be a toxic substance," Fransblow told CJAD 800.
Fransblow said that in worst case scenarios, children can experience difficulties breathing, seizures and lapse into a coma.
In more minor cases with lower doses, the child can show symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, loss of coordination, slurred speech, sleepiness, euphoria or irritability. It takes about three hours for symptoms to show up and last up to 12 hours.
Fransblow advises caution.
"Now with the holidays are coming, if you're going to other people's houses, you may want to ask if they have cannabis in the home, how they're storing it," said Fransblow.
And she said people should be more careful in general.
"There's less stigma about it now so people are less inclined to hide it. So that's what our concern is."