Marijuana and Psychosis: New Evidence

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New insight into the link between marijuana use and psychosis shows the younger one starts using, the higher the likelihood of losing touch with reality.

New research out of the University of Queensland in Australia shows compared to people who had never used cannabis, young adults who started using cannabis six or seven years before the study were twice as likely to develop a non-affective psychosis like schizophrenia and four times as likely to have high scores on a test measuring delusion.

In addition, the study found the longer the span of time since a person first used cannabis, the higher their risk of psychosis-related problems.

The relationship between cannabis use and psychotic problems was shown to be persistent among sibling pairs, "reducing the likelihood that the association was due to unmeasured shared genetic and/or environmental influences," study authors wrote.

Researchers caution that the relationship between psychosis and cannabis is a complex one, since individuals who experience hallucinations and thus are at higher risk for psychosis are more likely to use cannabis longer and more frequently.

Source: Archives of General Psychiatry, posted online March 1, 2010

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