Adolescents who use cannabis could face a significantly higher risk of developing serious psychiatric disorders by young adulthood, according to a large new study published today in JAMA Health Forum. The longitudinal study followed 463,396 adolescents ages 13 to 17 through age 26 and found that past-year cannabis use during adolescence was associated with a significantly higher risk of incident psychotic (doubled), bipolar (doubled), depressive and anxiety disorders.
The study analyzed electronic health record data from routine pediatric visits between 2016 and 2023. Cannabis use preceded psychiatric diagnoses by an average of 1.7 to 2.3 years. The study’s longitudinal design strengthens evidence that adolescent cannabis exposure is a potential risk factor for developing mental illness.
Unlike many prior studies, the research examined any self-reported past-year cannabis use, with universal screening of teens during standard pediatric care, rather than focusing only on heavy use or cannabis use disorder.
The study also found that cannabis use was more common among adolescents enrolled in Medicaid and those living in more socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods, raising concerns that expanding cannabis commercialization could exacerbate existing mental health disparities.
Cool, maybe that's true.
But ancient history isn't relevant and doesn't change the fact that cannabis use actually has legitimately been strongly correlated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
But it is proven that cannabis use causes bad outcomes. If used while the brain is developing, it causes learning problems. While smoking is not the only method to use the drug, it is the most common. Any type of smoke entering the lungs causes bad outcomes, and cannabis smoke contains orders of magnitude more tar than tobacco smoke. It is proven that it causes CHS in chronic/daily users. Addiction is a bad outcome. Memory problems are a bad outcome. These are all proven.