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.
Jesus Christ, so many ignorant people in this thread trying to question the scientific data with nothing but their own fee-fees about the politics of cannabis legality and capitalism. So much for this being a science forum.
This clickbait article is a pseudo-scientific joke just from the headline alone. And people are upvoting it. smh.
More anecdata of my own here ... but I've observed that a good number "pro-science" people abandon the science when it ceases to suit their politics.
Says the guy pumping the puritanical anti drug works they commission? Your words are wise, if one had shit for brains and was born yesterday.