CDC: 'Scromiting' hospital visits linked to youth cannabis surge, change in reporting

Emergency room visits linked to a severe marijuana-related vomiting illness have surged among teenagers and young adults, according to a new CDC study, adding fresh data to an ongoing debate over cannabis policy as a federal hearing on rescheduling the drug continues.

The condition, cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS, causes cyclical bouts of severe nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain in frequent cannabis users. The term “scromiting” comes from people describing the pain-driven screaming and vomiting together as “scromiting.” First identified in Australia in 2004, the syndrome can in rare cases be fatal, though hot showers or baths often provide temporary relief.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified 199,565 CHS-involved emergency room visits nationwide between January 2023 and May 2026, according to a report published Aug. 6 in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Visit rates stayed roughly steady for most of that period before jumping sharply after a specific diagnostic code for CHS took effect Oct. 1, 2025 — from 3.35 cases per 10,000 emergency room visits the month before to 11.26 the month after. The CDC cautioned the increase "likely reflects, at least in part, improved recognition and coding of CHS rather than a true rise in incidence."

Even accounting for that caveat, the data showed the highest rates by far among 15- to 24-year-olds, who accounted for roughly 38.7 CHS-involved visits per 10,000 emergency room visits in the eight months after the new code took effect — more than 11 times the rate among adults 45 and older, and about 37% higher than the next-highest group, ages 25 to 34. Rates were also elevated among black Americans, Native Americans, and women. Prior to the report, physicians believed that the condition was tied to frequent, long-term marijuana use. 

Alana Vivolo-Kantor, the CDC scientist who led the study, told The A.P. News the youth trend surprised researchers. 

“The assumption going in was, well, how can they have chronic use,” she said, adding that it raised questions about how early some patients started using cannabis.

The report noted that reported CHS cases climbed sharply nationwide from 2016 to 2022, a period that coincided with widespread state-level legalization of cannabis, even though the drug remains illegal under federal law. Researchers also pointed to rising THC potency in cannabis products, vaping, and evidence that CHS symptoms can emerge within a user’s first year of frequent use, sooner than previously believed.

The findings surface a year after Kelsey Reinhardt, president and CEO of CatholicVote, joined more than 40 other groups urging President Donald Trump to resist reclassifying marijuana, warning that “today's cannabis is a high-potency, brain-altering substance linked to anxiety, psychosis, and addiction.” Reinhardt pointed to Colorado, where she lives, saying legalization there had coincided with rising homelessness and drug-related crime and traffic accidents.

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Since Reinhardt's August 2025 comments, the administration has moved on the issue. In April 2026, the Justice Department shifted FDA-approved marijuana medications and state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, while leaving recreational marijuana in Schedule I. 

A separate U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration hearing was held June 29–July 15 before Administrative Law Judge Derek C. Julius. After giving the testimony due consideration, Judge Julius will issue his recommendation to the Administrator of the DEA, Terry Cole, who will make the final decision. 

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