More children across New York are unknowingly consuming edible cannabis products, according to data from the Upstate New York Poison Center. 

“If a child sees something that looks like a sweet or a candy, they're more likely than not going to try to get at it," said Vincent Calleo, the medical director at the Upstate New York Poison Center. 

The people answering calls at the center? They're called spies and increasingly, those calls are about children 5 years old or younger consuming edible cannabis products. 

“In 2019, the upstate New York Poison Center had about seven calls reported," Calleo said. "And in 2023, the numbers that we had were roughly 211 cases.”

The poison center’s service area covers 54 of 62 counties throughout upstate New York. In terms of cannabis’ impact on children, Calleo says the dose determines the strength. 

“Effects, sometimes if the dose is small, can be somewhat mild, where they might be a little bit more confused, maybe a little bit more sleepy, maybe bumping into things or acting silly," he said. "But when the doses get much higher, that's when we start to get a lot more worried. There have been a number of cases, both locally and across the country, where children have had to be admitted to the hospital to try to help take care of them because their heart rates are different than they should be.”

The extreme cases aren’t as common, according to Calleo. But the cannabis industry is growing.

“We certainly do have concerns that there will likely be more pediatric exposures that occur by accident, simply because as more product becomes available, there's a higher chance that a child may be able to unintentionally or accidentally find it and get into it," Calleo said. 

Experts say there are legal ways to enjoy cannabis without putting children at risk.

“One of the simplest and easiest ways to prevent children from getting into medications, or into anything, is to keep them up out of sight and out of reach," he said. "Another simple step that families can do is use a medication lock box.”

And actions regulators can take to make sure children don’t want to consume the products.

"Make it so that the edible products don't look appealing to children, so they don't look like normal candy," Calleo said. 

“No dose of cannabis is safe for a child," he said.