Cannabis may be more socially accepted than ever, but a growing number of users are discovering a terrifying side effect known as “scromiting” — a condition so severe it’s sending thousands to emergency rooms.
Once heavily stigmatized, cannabis is now legal for recreational use in nearly half of US states, and far fewer people see it as a “devil’s drug.” It’s easy to imagine a future where marijuana is barely considered taboo at all. Yet increased acceptance doesn’t mean it’s harmless, and scromiting is a stark reminder of that.
“Scromiting” is the nickname given to Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS), a condition tied to heavy or long-term cannabis use. While the psychological and neurological effects of THC — such as euphoria, calm, anxiety, paranoia, or even rare psychosis — are well known, CHS is less widely discussed despite being brutal for those who experience it.
Over the past decade, hospitals have seen a surge in patients arriving with severe nausea, unstoppable vomiting, and excruciating abdominal pain that can strike multiple times a year. These episodes typically start within 24 hours of cannabis use and can last for days. The term “scromiting” comes from a combination of “screaming” and “vomiting,” because many sufferers scream in agony while they throw up.
Doctors say treating CHS is challenging. There are no FDA-approved treatments specifically for it, and standard anti-nausea medications often fail to bring relief. One patient reportedly went to the ER four or five times in just six months. He described a “burning,” “agonizing” pain in his stomach and relentless vomiting. Desperate for relief, he tried taking extremely hot showers — a common but temporary coping method among CHS sufferers — before finally going to the hospital, where he needed morphine to manage the pain.
Another person compared the intensity of scromiting to childbirth, calling it “some of the worst physical pain I’ve ever experienced in my life” and remembering how she found herself begging, “God, please make it stop.”
Even when an episode ends, CHS can come back if cannabis use continues. The only true cure is to stop using cannabis entirely. Because the condition flares up intermittently, many people don’t immediately connect their symptoms to marijuana and keep using, only to end up violently ill again.
Research has begun to clarify the pattern. One study of more than 1,000 CHS patients found that starting cannabis use early in life and using it heavily over time was strongly linked to ER visits for scromiting. Perhaps most worrying, adolescent cases in the US have risen more than tenfold between 2016 and 2023. The overall number of CHS cases is higher in states where cannabis is legal, but among younger users, the fastest growth has actually been seen in states where recreational cannabis is still illegal.
The picture that emerges is complicated: cannabis is becoming more normalized and accessible, but alongside that shift, a painful and sometimes overlooked syndrome is quietly sending people to hospitals. For those who think marijuana is risk-free — or only mildly risky — the reality of scromiting is a sobering counterpoint.
