‘Scromiting’ Warnings Spread Rapidly Online After New Studies Highlight Rare Marijuana Syndrome
12/05/2025
A dramatic term combining “screaming” and “vomiting” has dominated headlines and social media feeds this week, with major outlets including CNN, Fox News, Yahoo, and the New York Post all publishing near-identical stories about a little-known complication of heavy cannabis use.
The surge began earlier this week after CNN ran a feature titled “Scromiting: The marijuana side effect that has people screaming in pain.” Within 24 hours, the phrase was trending on TikTok, Reddit, and X, fueled by patient videos showing individuals doubled over in agony and seeking relief only from near-scalding showers.
The condition at the center of the storm is cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), first described in medical literature in 2004. It causes repeated cycles of severe nausea, abdominal pain, and uncontrollable vomiting in a small subset of long-term, high-dose cannabis users. Paradoxically, hot baths or showers are the only temporary remedy reported by nearly all patients.
Two recent developments appear to have triggered the media wave. In October, both the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assigned official diagnostic codes to CHS for the first time, making large-scale tracking possible. Days later, researchers published two studies showing sharp increases in emergency-room visits: one reported a more than tenfold rise among adolescents and young adults in some states since 2016, while another documented a 29 percent increase in Colorado following legalization.
Despite the alarming headlines, physicians emphasize that CHS remains exceedingly rare. Population-wide prevalence is estimated at roughly 0.1 percent, and even among daily users, the lifetime risk is generally cited between 1 and 3 percent. A 2018 study of regular cannabis users at an urban hospital found only 2.75 percent had ever experienced symptoms consistent with CHS.
Critics note that the timing—amid record legal sales and ongoing federal rescheduling discussions—has amplified a niche medical issue into what feels like a coordinated public-health scare. As of today, “scromiting” has been mentioned in more than 180 English-language news articles published in the preceding 48 hours, according to media monitoring services.
Reference
The surge began earlier this week after CNN ran a feature titled “Scromiting: The marijuana side effect that has people screaming in pain.” Within 24 hours, the phrase was trending on TikTok, Reddit, and X, fueled by patient videos showing individuals doubled over in agony and seeking relief only from near-scalding showers.
The condition at the center of the storm is cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), first described in medical literature in 2004. It causes repeated cycles of severe nausea, abdominal pain, and uncontrollable vomiting in a small subset of long-term, high-dose cannabis users. Paradoxically, hot baths or showers are the only temporary remedy reported by nearly all patients.
Two recent developments appear to have triggered the media wave. In October, both the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assigned official diagnostic codes to CHS for the first time, making large-scale tracking possible. Days later, researchers published two studies showing sharp increases in emergency-room visits: one reported a more than tenfold rise among adolescents and young adults in some states since 2016, while another documented a 29 percent increase in Colorado following legalization.
Despite the alarming headlines, physicians emphasize that CHS remains exceedingly rare. Population-wide prevalence is estimated at roughly 0.1 percent, and even among daily users, the lifetime risk is generally cited between 1 and 3 percent. A 2018 study of regular cannabis users at an urban hospital found only 2.75 percent had ever experienced symptoms consistent with CHS.
Critics note that the timing—amid record legal sales and ongoing federal rescheduling discussions—has amplified a niche medical issue into what feels like a coordinated public-health scare. As of today, “scromiting” has been mentioned in more than 180 English-language news articles published in the preceding 48 hours, according to media monitoring services.
Reference
