Readers Write: Cannabis poisoning, vaccines, political violence, gun control

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Seeing Halloween candy in stores reminds us of a troubling fact: According to the Minnesota Center for Health Statistics, 99 children under age 5 were treated in hospitals for cannabis poisoning in 2023, and 122 were treated in 2024. Reported poisonings were due to accidental consumption of non-beverage edible hemp and cannabis products.

This raises a critical question: Is Minnesota doing enough to protect young children? Current THC limits set by the Office of Cannabis Management are too high. Cannabis edibles are allowed to contain up to 10 mg per serving and 200 mg per package — levels that pose serious risks to children. Young children can’t read warnings and are drawn to sweets, making the risk of accidental ingestion unacceptably high when edibles are left unattended.

A toddler consuming just two to three edibles can exceed the dose of 1.7 mg THC/kg, the threshold level predicting severe and prolonged toxicity with symptoms such as seizures, hallucinations and respiratory depression requiring ICU admission.

We urge the Office of Cannabis Management to lower THC limits of cannabis edibles to 100 mg per package; mandate child-resistant packaging, either blister packs or single-serving, sealed pouches; and require retailers to give consumers unbiased health warning information at the point of sale.

Stronger attention to poisoning prevention is essential to protect Minnesotans as reported poisonings in all age groups are expected to increase with cannabis commercialization.

George M. Realmuto, Apple Valley

Ken Winters, Falcon Heights

Poirier and Realmuto are members and Winters is the co-founder of Smart Approaches to Marijuana-Minnesota.

President Donald Trump’s comment “They pump so much stuff into those beautiful little babies, it’s a disgrace” (“Attacks on vaccines shock health leaders,” Sept. 24) may be among the most absurd comments made in his press conference on Monday. Early in my 40-year-career as a pediatrician, I often had to “pump” IV antibiotics, IV fluids and medications to keep babies’ blood pressure up as well as put tubes down those beautiful little babies’ throats to help them breathe — when they got infected with diseases that are now vaccine preventable, like Haemophilus influenza (H. Flu) and pneumococcal sepsis and meningitis.

Parents can either make the decision to vaccinate their babies, infants and children with recommended vaccines that are safe and effective, or risk having their children get infected with diseases they could help to prevent and then deal with the consequences of those infections, which can include death. Please, don’t listen to our president, who says he makes these statements “based on what I feel,” but instead, listen to your trusted pediatrician, who makes their recommendations based on science supported by good research. Get your children vaccinated per the vaccine schedule supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Your child will grow up to thank you!

The writer is a retired pediatrician.

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The scariest part of the story “Attacks on vaccines shock health leaders” is buried deep inside, in the second-to-last column. “Several aides to Republican members of Congress, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, also said their offices were unsettled by Trump’s remarks,” which were loaded with false, baseless information about vaccines. “Two former Trump administration officials and one current official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid about the president, said they were deeply frustrated and worried about Trump’s decision to amplify anti-vaccine talking points.” In other words, they were afraid to speak the truth. They disagreed with what the president said because it’s dangerous — but they’re afraid to speak truthfully for fear of facing Trump’s anger and retribution. That fear of speaking out truthfully — even when citizens’ lives are literally on the line — adds to the ample evidence we already have that the Trump administration is a dictatorship, one that runs counter to every ideal this nation was founded on.

Steve Schild, Falcon Heights

Is this now the status quo, where each violent event simply gets overshadowed by the next? The scope and magnitude of these recent tragedies have subtly blended altogether into the political atmosphere we are creating. Over the past few years this climate has been snowballing rapidly into something unrecognizable, at least in the U.S., while the media idles alongside, regurgitating descriptions like “unprecedented.”

Dismissing my opinion as “laughable” or labeling it “fringe” would be correct — if this was decade ago. Yet, here we are. I am challenging (actually, I’m begging) anyone reading this to “Prove Me Wrong.”

Jimmy P. Powell, St. Paul

The Sept. 25 article “No traction for special session on gun limits” clearly states the largely Republican position on gun control. Minnesota Republican legislators, have you no shame? Where is your empathy for the children slain at the Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis? Or the many other recent firearm killings of children, legislators and political activists? How do you feel about the almost surgical killing of Charlie Kirk in front of an audience of thousands of students in the courtyard of Utah Valley University near Salt Lake City? None of these killings should have happened. And nothing you can do legislatively will put an end to them.

However, there’s a big difference between the Annunciation killings and Charlie Kirk’s untimely death. Charlie Kirk was killed by a single bullet, fired from a vintage German bolt-action military rifle. The Annunciation killer used an AR-15-style assault rifle and ammunition that is standard issue in the U.S. military. While Minnesota legislators certainly cannot prevent access to rifles similar to those used by game hunters throughout the U.S. and elsewhere, it is within their power to halt the availability of military assault-style weapons. Now is the time for legislators to regain some semblance of humane empathy for the many families grieving for loved ones lost in mass shootings. Nobody needs to purchase or own a military-style assault weapon to protect themselves or their home. That’s the work of our police and National Guard.

I urge Gov. Tim Walz to call a special session to enact commonsense legislation on this critical issue, and I urge Republican legislators, or any others who have reservations, to get on board. Let’s get this thing done once and for all!

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Republicans keep saying that mental health is the main cause for the recent gun violence — Vance Boelter, Robin Westman and Tyler Robinson. That is not true. These were well-planned, intentional murders. These people knew exactly what they were doing. For some reason, they decided this was their cause. They kept their plans hidden from other people who potentially could have intervened and stopped them. This doesn’t meet the standards of mental illness to me.

It is pure evil that someone would even think of killing innocent people, especially children. Stopping these weapons of war will be difficult to enforce since there are so many of them on the street now. It’s unlikely the current gun supply can be removed. Who in their right mind would want the job of collecting guns by knocking on people’s doors to confiscate their AR-15s?

Gun reform to limit these weapons of war would help some but not eliminate the problem because, again, these guns are already in society. It’s like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube. The assault weapons ban should have never expired to begin with. Big mistake! Guns do kill people!