Increase in Psychosis Among Teenage Cannabis Users
In the wake of the statement from the Irish College of Psychiatrists last week, Mary Cannon, MD, professor of psychiatric epidemiology and youth mental health in the department of psychiatry at Ireland’s Royal College of Surgeons, says her country is seeing an increase in the number of young adult patients with a history of marijuana use during adolescence being treated for psychosis.
“All teenagers are hearing are the positive messages coming from social media, especially from the US. We have to protect our young people because they’re very vulnerable and their brains are still developing, and their mental health is fragile at the age,” she says.
“In my experience, when I go to a young man or woman with psychosis now, my first thought is cannabis, and 70 percent to 80 percent of the time there will be a history of cannabis use since adolescence . . . . It is extremely worrying and really tragic because it is preventable.”
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