Cannabis and psychosis – For health reasons

2023-12-15 09:03:11

Those nostalgic for the “summer of love” have trivialized hashish to the point of giving it the image of a soft drug. We then knew the ravages of alcohol and not yet those of cannabis. However, as early as 1845, Moreau de Tours had warned of the risk of psychosis, in his work Hashish and insanity.

Today, hundreds of studies unambiguously show the association between cannabis and psychoses, particularly schizophrenia. The earlier it is consumed, the more it advances the disease, of which we know that the prognosis is all the more severe the earlier it occurs.

It had been suggested that a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia caused an attraction to cannabis as a self-medication, in the same way that a great geneticist had dared to assert that a single gene predisposed to both lung cancer and smoking.

Although the genetics of schizophrenia are largely unknown, we know that painful experiences, childhood trauma and certain psychological profiles increase the risk. Hashish, added to these risks, further multiplies them by 2 or 3. The MRI notes the reduction in brain volume and the loss of gray matter; these losses are twice as significant in the case of marijuana consumption. However, none of these environmental or neurophysiological predispositions are predictive of subsequent cannabis use, contradicting the self-medication hypothesis. On the other hand, this idea dies hard, increasing consumption in schizotypal personalities and aggravating the vicious circle of psychotic attacks and dependence.

The link with psychotic symptoms is dose-dependent. Some estimate a risk multiplied by 6 following just 50 doses of cannabis. Those who smoked at least 3 times before the age of 15 have a 4 times greater risk of developing schizophrenia at the age of 26. Consumption before the age of 15 also significantly reduces cognitive performance, attention and impulsive control. Obviously, the risk increases with the THC concentration which is 15% in skunk compared to 5% in hash.

The entire mental sphere is concerned. Monitoring of more than a thousand people aged 5 to 38 showed that cannabis use in adolescence is associated with a drop in IQ of up to eight points. Meta-analyses also show a notable increase in anxiety-depressive disorders, other psychoses, delusions, hallucinations, cognitive deficits, psychomotor agitation, anhedonia, antisocial behavior.

Knowing that 1.2 million French people use it regularly and that consumption among 12-18 year olds tripled between 1993 and 2003. Finally knowing that adolescence is a period of vulnerability and learning, and that therapeutic cannabis is announced with great publicity, this is a subject worthy of global warming.

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