2023-05-27 13:55:40
Excessive cannabis use and its legalization might exacerbate the mental health crisis among young adults, According to a study by the National Institute of Health in the United States published this month.
“For all the people I’ve diagnosed with a psychotic disorder, I can’t think of a single person who wasn’t so positive for cannabis,” says New York psychiatrist Dr. Ryan Sultan.
Mr. Sultan, also a professor at a psychiatry clinic at the Columbia Irving Medical Center, is an expert who is very concerned regarding the rising use of cannabis by adolescents and young adults, according to information from NBC News.
There is growing evidence that marijuana use can lead to psychotic disorders, such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, primarily with young men, according to Dr. Sultan.
Those who use cannabis recreationally are two to four times more likely to develop psychotic disorders, including depression and suicidal issues, compared to people who don’t use it at all, according to Sultan’s study.
“It’s an urgent problem, not just because more people are smoking marijuana, but more because more people are consuming it in a harmful way with a huge concentration of THC”, expresses the director of the National Institute on the drug abuse, Dr. Nora Volkow, in an interview with the NBC media.
One of the studies by researchers in Denmark, in collaboration with the National Institute of Health in the United States, proves that there is an association between cannabis use disorder and schizophrenia as much for men of 21 years to 30 years, than for women.
Since the legalization of cannabis, daily marijuana use by young adults has reached record highs with more than one in 10 people, according to research published in the journal Psychological Medicine, out of 7 million men and women in Denmark.
The link between marijuana and psychotic disorders is controversial. Research is still too uncertain whether people who have already or will develop a psychotic condition are more likely to turn to cannabis to self-medicate or cannabis fuels mental problems.
However, according to Dr Deepak D’Souza, a psychiatrist at Yale University who has studied cannabis for 20 years, there is too much evidence to ignore the problem.
“We grossly underestimate the potential risks associated with cannabis,” she insists.
Dr. D’Souza is very concerned for the mental health of young adults who overuse the product.
“It is a massive concern. We have been woefully unable to educate the public and influence policy,” she says.
What is the most vulnerable age?
Research proves that the human brain is the last organ to fully develop and does not complete until the mid-twenties.
Hence, teenagers would be even more vulnerable to the effects of cannabis with their developing brains.
“The ideal time to consider cannabis use is from the age of 26,” adds Dr. Sultan.
Those who wait until age 26 to use it are less likely to become addicted or develop mental disorders, according to an addiction specialist at Children’s Hospital in Boston, Dr. Sharon Levy.
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