Injecting Cannabis Tea Intravenously Caused Life-Threatening Reactions in Four Teenagers | Research

The takeaway

Four young people who injected a boiled cannabis-seed tea into their veins experienced immediate, severe, and potentially fatal reactions including shock, organ damage, and gastrointestinal bleeding.

Read this if you work in harm reduction or emergency medicine and want to understand the dangers of intravenous injection of plant-derived preparations.

All four patients developed hypovolemic shock and temporary kidney failure

What the researchers found

Four youths prepared a tea by boiling cannabis seeds, then injected the liquid directly into their veins. The consequences were immediate and severe.

All four developed nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, watery diarrhea, chills, and fever within moments of injection. They progressed to hypovolemic shock with dangerously low blood pressure and temporary kidney failure.

Additional complications included persistent low blood sugar, rapid heart rate, gastrointestinal bleeding, bleeding in the whites of the eyes, jaundice, enlarged spleen, muscle pain, joint pain, motor weakness, and EKG changes indicating cardiac ischemia.

All four survived, with symptoms reversing over the following weeks, but the researchers emphasized that these effects had been potentially fatal.

Why it matters

This case report documents an extremely dangerous route of cannabis administration that introduces plant material, particulates, and contaminants directly into the bloodstream. The severity of the reactions underscores that the route of administration fundamentally changes the risk profile of any substance.

The numbers in context

Four patients. All experienced hypovolemic shock and transitory renal failure. EKG showed ischemic changes. Recovery occurred over weeks.

How the study worked

Case report of four youths who presented with acute adverse reactions after intravenous injection of aqueous cannabis-seed tea. Clinical findings were documented including vital signs, laboratory values, and EKG results.

What this study cannot tell us

Case report of only four individuals. The exact composition of the injected tea is unknown, and contaminants from the preparation process likely contributed to the reactions. No way to separate effects of THC from effects of injecting plant particulates and other seed compounds.

How to read the evidence

A case report of four patients. Provides clinical documentation of a rare event but cannot establish broader patterns or mechanisms.

When this study was published

Published in 1977. Emergency medicine protocols and supportive care capabilities have improved substantially since this era.

The bigger picture

While intravenous injection of cannabis preparations is rare, this case report became an important reference in toxicology literature. It illustrates how bypassing the body's natural barriers (digestion, filtration) can turn a substance with a relatively wide safety margin into something acutely dangerous.

Questions still open

How much of the reaction was due to cannabinoids versus particulate contamination and endotoxins? Has this route of administration been documented in other case reports? What specific components of cannabis seeds caused these reactions?

Common questions

Did the patients survive?

Yes. All four recovered over the following weeks, though the researchers noted the reactions had been potentially fatal.

Is this relevant to normal cannabis use?

No. This involved injecting a boiled plant preparation directly into veins, an extremely unusual and dangerous route that bypasses all of the body's natural filtration systems.

Read the original research

Adverse effects of intravenous cannabis tea.

Journal of the National Medical Association, 69(7), 491-5

View on PubMed ↗

Citation

Mims, R B; Lee, J H. (1977). Adverse effects of intravenous cannabis tea.. Journal of the National Medical Association, 69(7), 491-5.