Weed sick: High-potency cannabis leads to ER visits, illnesses for some users
Don Danielson of Sedro Woolley is the kind of person who would rather point to the evidence than state his opinion.
When he wants to explain how popular his 27-year-old son Brandon was when he died, he describes the turnout at his son’s funeral in 2019. Hundreds of people packed the church. It was standing room only — old people, young people, people from other countries who Brandon had met.
“He was very outgoing. He had tons of friends,” Don Danielson said. “He married his high school sweetheart. They were literally months away from going on their honeymoon that they waited for when he passed. They were looking to buy their first house.”
A detail shot of Brandon Danielson's 2019 death certificate lists his cause of death complications from CHS.
Courtesy of the Danielson family
According to his death certificate, Brandon Danielson died of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS, a condition that results from daily use of cannabis, especially high-THC concentrates. As cannabis products like vapes, shatter, and dabs have reached near 100% potency, doctors across Washington state are seeing an increase in cannabis-related disorders, including CHS.
Like many people who develop CHS, Brandon Danielson was initially misdiagnosed. Doctors thought he had cyclical vomiting syndrome, a condition with similar symptoms — extreme abdominal pain, severe bouts of vomiting, and nausea.
“It was so new, we didn’t even know what CHS was,” his father said. “He smoked a lot of weed, but it was the concentrates. It’s the concentrates.”
In September, Brandon Danielson was getting ready to go to work, when he had a seizure. He was so severely dehydrated from vomiting that his organs shut down.
“His wife, my daughter-in-law, found him after she got home from work,” his father explained. “It’s the worst pain you could ever feel, losing a child. He was an adult, but he was still my child.”
The cannabis Brandon Danielson consumed was much stronger than anything that was available prior to the 2010s, when a growing number of states began to legalize recreational use.
Of the people who reported vaping cannabis in the 2023 International Cannabis Policy Study, the average oil they vaped was 71.6% THC. That’s almost 20 times stronger than the potency of weed that was for sale illegally in the U.S. in 1995, which had an average THC content of 4%, said Denise Walker, a research professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work in Seattle.
