Howard-Azzeh Mohammad, Pearl David L, Swirski Alexandra, Ward Madeline, Hovdey Roksolana, O'Sullivan Terri L, Berke Olaf
Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One. 2021 Apr 16;16(4):e0250323. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250323. eCollection 2021.
With current trends in cannabis legalization, large efforts are being made to understand the effects of less restricted legislation on human consumption, health, and abuse of these products. Little is known about the effects of cannabis legalization and increased cannabis use on vulnerable populations, such as dogs. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of different state-level cannabis legislation, county-level socioeconomic factors, and dog-level characteristics on dog cannabis poisoning reports to an animal poison control center (APCC). Data were obtained concerning reports of dog poisoning events, county characteristics, and state cannabis legislation from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' (ASPCA) APCC, the US Census Bureau, and various public policy-oriented and government websites, respectively. A multilevel logistic regression model with random intercepts for county and state was fitted to investigate the associations between the odds of a call to the APCC being related to a dog being poisoned by a cannabis product and the following types of variables: dog characteristics, county-level socioeconomic characteristics, and the type of state-level cannabis legislation. There were significantly higher odds of a call being related to cannabis in states with lower penalties for cannabis use and possession. The odds of these calls were higher in counties with higher income variability, higher percentage of urban population, and among smaller, male, and intact dogs. These calls increased throughout the study period (2009-2014). Reporting of cannabis poisonings were more likely to come from veterinarians than dog owners. Reported dog poisonings due to cannabis appear to be influenced by dog-level and community-level factors. This study may increase awareness to the public, public health, and veterinary communities of the effects of recreational drug use on dog populations. This study highlights the need to educate dog owners about safeguarding cannabis products from vulnerable populations.
随着当前大麻合法化的趋势，人们正在做出巨大努力来了解限制较少的立法对这些产品的人类消费、健康和滥用的影响。关于大麻合法化和大麻使用增加对狗等弱势群体的影响，人们知之甚少。本研究的目的是调查不同州级大麻立法、县级社会经济因素和狗的个体特征对动物中毒控制中心（APCC）接收的犬类大麻中毒报告的影响。分别从美国防止虐待动物协会（ASPCA）的APCC、美国人口普查局以及各种面向公共政策的政府网站获取了有关犬类中毒事件报告、县特征和州大麻立法的数据。拟合了一个具有县和州随机截距的多水平逻辑回归模型，以研究向APCC致电与犬类被大麻产品毒害的几率之间的关联，以及以下类型的变量：狗的特征、县级社会经济特征和州级大麻立法类型。在对大麻使用和持有处罚较轻的州，与大麻相关的致电几率显著更高。在收入变异性较高、城市人口百分比较高的县以及体型较小、雄性和未绝育的狗中，这些致电的几率更高。在整个研究期间（2009 - 2014年），这些致电有所增加。大麻中毒报告更有可能来自兽医而非狗主人。报告的犬类大麻中毒似乎受到狗的个体层面和社区层面因素的影响。本研究可能会提高公众、公共卫生和兽医界对娱乐性药物使用对犬类种群影响的认识。这项研究强调了教育狗主人保护大麻产品不被弱势群体接触的必要性。
