Thaindian News

London, Mar 2 (ANI): A new 10-year long study has found that the use of cannabis leads to development of psychotic symptoms in teenagers and young adults.

Professor Jim van Os from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and his colleagues analysed the link between cannabis use and the incidence and persistence of psychotic symptoms over 10 years.

The study involved a random sample of 1,923 adolescents and young adults aged 14 to 24 years.

Results suggested that cannabis use almost doubled the risk of later incident psychotic symptoms, even after accounting for factors such as age, sex, socio-economic status, use of other drugs, and other psychiatric diagnoses.

And in those with cannabis use at the start of the study, continued use of cannabis over the study period increased the risk of persistent psychotic symptoms.

There was no evidence for self medication effects as psychotic symptoms did not predict later cannabis use.

These results “help to clarify the temporal association between cannabis use and psychotic experiences,” say the authors.

“In addition, cannabis use was confirmed as an environmental risk factor impacting on the risk of persistence of psychotic experiences.”

Professor Wayne Hall from the University of Queensland and Professor Louisa Degenhardt from the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, raised questions about the UK’s decision to retain criminal penalties for cannabis use, despite evidence that removing such penalties has little or no detectable effect on rates of use.

They believe that an informed cannabis policy “should be based not only on the harms caused by cannabis use, but also on the harms caused by social policies that attempt to discourage its use, such as criminal penalties for possession and use.”

The study appears in BMJ. (ANI)