Christina Bluhme was partway up the slopes of Britain’s tallest mountain with her two dogs when one of them suddenly became incapacitated — not from exhaustion, but apparently from cannabis.
Tokyo, a 5-year-old black Labrador retriever, had seemingly consumed cannabis somewhere along the trail on Ben Nevis in the Scottish Highlands. The dog began swaying as though intoxicated and eventually could not walk at all.
“She had a very bad trip,” Bluhme said of the July 5 incident. “It was a very terrifying experience.”
Despite having spent 25 years working as a canine trainer, Bluhme had no idea at the time that her dog might be suffering from cannabis intoxication.
Cannabis toxicity in pets is a growing concern in the United Kingdom, but the problem is even more widespread in the United States, where marijuana has been legalized in numerous states and is permitted for medical use in many others. Marijuana and other drugs appeared on the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ top 10 list of pet toxins for the first time in 2023. The organization’s poison control center reported a 10% rise in calls related to possible marijuana ingestion compared to the prior year, and those calls have nearly tripled over the past five years.
When Tokyo collapsed, Bluhme, her son, and their two dogs were more than three hours into the climb and close to the summit of Ben Nevis, which stands at 4,413 feet (1,345 meters). The weather had shifted dramatically from clear skies at the start to rain, and temperatures had dropped to 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit).
Bluhme told her son, Magnus, that reaching the summit was no longer an option.
“I said, listen, we’ve got to turn around and get her down,” Bluhme recalled Monday. “There’s something completely wrong here.”
Magnus called for assistance, but police indicated they were uncertain whether a rescue team could be dispatched.
Fortunately, a crew from the all-volunteer Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team happened to already be descending from the peak after assisting with a helicopter airlift of an injured hiker. The team placed Tokyo — who weighs 55 pounds (25 kilograms) — onto a stretcher and carried her down the steep, wet, rocky trail, reaching the trailhead in roughly an hour.
“They were almost running,” Bluhme said. “I was clinging on to the stretcher. They were so agile and so fast. It was incredible.”
Police had contacted Crown Vets in the nearby town of Fort William, and a veterinarian was ready and waiting when Bluhme arrived with the dog.
Vets initially suspected a spinal problem, but a senior veterinarian determined the dog had been exposed to some type of neurotoxin, as she was drifting in and out of consciousness. After consulting with a poison control center, the symptoms aligned clearly with cannabis intoxication.
Tokyo was treated with activated charcoal and made a complete recovery by the following morning.
After fearing she might lose her dog on the mountainside, Bluhme said the 1,000 pound (approximately $1,335) veterinary bill felt entirely worth it.
“The next day it was like nothing ever happened,” said Bluhme, who is from southern England. “She recovered so quickly, and I’m the one still hanging a bit.”
