Psychiatric Disorders May Be More Common Among Pot Smokers

First Posted: Feb 17, 2015 09:04 PM EST
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Some research suggests that marijuana is relatively harmless. In fact, certain forms of the drug are even being used today to treat various chronic ailments. Yet previous studies have also linked the drug's usage to excessive fatigue and even an increased risk of depression. 

Smoking for  recreational purposes could even be a bit more dangerous than previously thought, especially when concerning the potency of the product. New research published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry links high-potency marijuana to an increased risk of developing certain psychiatric disorders.

For the study, researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London studied 800 participants between the ages of 18 and 65. From the sample, 410 had reported a first episode of psychosis while another 370 health participants were used as a control.

"Skeptics still claim that this is not an important cause of schizophrenia-like psychosis. This paper suggests that we could prevent almost one-quarter of cases of psychosis if no one smoked high-potency cannabis," senior researcher Sir Robin Murray, a psychiatric research professor at King's College, said in a news release.

However, researchers also noted that just because individuals who experience psychosis have regularly smoked marijuana does not mean that using the drug could result in a mental disorder.

"Ecological studies such as this are pretty weak evidence for causation -- if you just look at population level information like this, then you can't be sure that the people using cannabis are the same people developing psychosis," Suzi Gage, a University of Bristol researcher exploring the links between substance abuse and mental health outcomes, via The Washington Post. "There could be distinct underlying sub-populations that get masked."

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