Study Shows Surprising Reason that Colorado is Vomiting More

A research organization known as the RAND Corporation has conducted a study that suggests that the legalization of marijuana in Colorado is directly related to an increase in vomiting-related visits to emergency rooms.

Yes, you read that right.

What is the RAND Corporation and Why Are they Researching Vomiting in Colorado?

Get our free mobile app

Believe it or not, the RAND Corporation has been around since 1948 and began as a research team whose purpose was to analyze the U.S. military following WWII.

The corporation gets its name from a play on the term "research and development" and has been doing that not just in the United States, but across the globe for over seven decades.

According to its website, the RAND Corporation is "a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous." The corporation also claims to be non-partisan and "committed to the public interest."

RAND Conducts a Study to See if Marijuana is Causing More Vomiting in Colorado

The study in question was published back in March of 2023 and compared statistics regarding vomiting-related visits to the emergency room or "emergency departments" to the rise in marijuana dispensaries in the same parts of Colorado.

RAND found that both vomiting cases and dispensaries saw growth between 2013 and 2018 across the state of Colorado.

The official conclusion from the study reads as follows:

The findings of this study suggest that cannabis legalization in Colorado is associated with an increase in annual vomiting-related health care encounters with regard to exposure to these markets. It may be useful for health care clinicians to be aware of cannabis hyperemesis syndrome and inquire about cannabis use when appropriate.

However, it should be noted that RAND has been deemed controversial in many of the studies conducted over the years since it was established. Some of these controversies have included subjects such as transparency in government, gun control, alcoholism, and numerous wars.

One could also argue that this particular study is an example of correlation being used as causation for an argument.

Check out the full report here and judge for yourself.