Mental Health Articles

Co-occurring Disorders

The coexistence of both a mental health and a substance use disorder is referred to as co-occurring disorders.

Massive Danish study finds strong link between marijuana addiction and mental illness

The study, published May 4 by the Cambridge journal Psychological Medicine, examines 6.9 million people ages 16-49 and more than 45,000 schizophrenia cases from 1972 to 2021.

Association of Mental Health Burden With Prenatal Cannabis Exposure From Childhood to Early Adolescence: Longitudinal Findings From the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study

Conclusions and relevance: This study suggests that prenatal cannabis exposure and its correlated factors are associated with greater risk for psychopathology during middle childhood. Cannabis use during pregnancy should be discouraged.     

We need to talk about marijuana’s potential harm to youths

One study shows nearly half of college students said they consumed marijuana. Eight percent reported they used it daily or nearly every day. One in 5 high school students used marijuana in the preceding 30 days.

Johnnys Ambassadors- Mental Illness and Marijuana

Articles on link between mental illness and marijuana

Adolescent cannabis use and later development of schizophrenia: An updated systematic review of longitudinal studies

Both high- and low-frequency marijuana usage were associated with a significantly increased risk of schizophrenia. The frequency of use among high- and low-frequency users is similar in both, demonstrating statistically significant increased risk in developing schizophrenia.

The link between pot and mass shootings may be closer than we think

Just last year, the Parents Opposed to Pot lobby group tried to sound the alarm on the link between marijuana and mass shootings, compiling a list of mass killers it claims were heavy users of marijuana from a young age, from Aurora, Colo., shooter James Holmes and Tucson, Ariz., shooter Jared Loughner to Chattanooga, Tenn., shooter Mohammad Abdulazeez.
You can’t address the youth mental health crisis without considering the effect of rising teen marijuana use.

High Potency Marijuana "Strongly Linked" to Psychosis

It is the latest in a long line of evidence that marijuana is not an innocent relaxation drug. “Smoking high-potency cannabis, used daily, has been linked to diagnosis of conditions like schizophrenia, paranoia and other psychosis disorders, new findings say. About 50 percent of new cases of psychosis disorders diagnosed in Amsterdam were linked to use of high-potency cannabis, according to a study published Tuesday in The Lancet.

Review of the public health risks of widespread cannabis use

1. Legalizing cannabis has been shown to increase the rates of motor vehicle accidents.
2. Cannabis use is a risk factor for mental illness.
3. Inhaled Cannabis use is a risk factor for respiratory infections.
4. Cannabis use increases the rate of vascular disease. Cannabis is the third most often identified drug of abuse
5. Cannabis use during pregnancy has been associated with increased risk of adverse birth outcomes
6. Legalization of cannabis has been shown to increase cannabis exposure in the pediatric population.

Effects of Marijuana on Mental Health

Mental health, addiction often a dual fight

According to the Journal of American Medical Association, 50 percent of the people who have a severe mental condition also have a substance abuse problem. JAMA also found that 37 percent of alcoholics have a mental illness, as do 53 percent of drug addicts.
When people use marijuana regularly, the drug may reduce thinking, memory and learning functions. Marijuana's effects on these abilities may last a long time or even be permanent. There have also been increases in fatal car crashes due to marijuana use in states like Washington and Colorado that have legalized the practice.

‘Medical’ marijuana is incompatible with mental health promotion

Similarly, it can be anticipated that if introduced, the indications for the  use of medical cannabinoids would expand well outside of the initial indications. Hence, the medical profession cannot justify the use of medical cannabinoids that would be associated with an iatrogenic risk of serious adverse psychological events.  The use of medical cannabinoids for any purpose, including research under closely observed conditions, is incompatible with mental health promotion.

Learn more about the risks marijuana use poses to your health.

Here are just a few of the health effects you may want to know:

Health Effects of Marijuana and Cannabis

The evidence reviewed by the committee suggests that cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia, other psychoses, and social anxiety disorders, and to a lesser extent depression.   Heavy cannabis users are more likely to report thoughts of suicide than non-users, and in individuals with bipolar disorder, near-daily cannabis users show increased symptoms of the disorder than non-users.

Marijuana Violence and Law

According to research studies, marijuana use causes aggressive behavior, causes or exacerbates psychosis and produce paranoias. These effects have been illustrated through case studies of highly publicized incidents and heightened political profiles.

Leytonstone attack: accused had "mental health problems"

"He had drugs influenced on him. Just cannabis. It give him mental problem. Bit paranoia. He was diagnosed by a doctors and treated in 2007 for paranoia.

Marijuana Use and PTSD among Veterans

Marijuana use for medical conditions is an issue of growing concern. Some Veterans use marijuana to relieve symptoms of PTSD and several states specifically approve the use of medical marijuana for PTSD. However, controlled studies have not been conducted to evaluate the safety or effectiveness of medical marijuana for PTSD. Thus, there is no evidence at this time that marijuana is an effective treatment for PTSD. In fact, research suggests that marijuana can be harmful to individuals with PTSD.

“Pot used to be pretty harmless, but it’s plenty dangerous today”

Increased availability and decreased perception of harm drive youth use and lowers the age of initiation to drug use — the goal of an industry working to capture lifetime customers, despite known consequences for physical and mental health.  Youth exposures double the risk of addiction.

Review finds ‘significant link’ between cannabis use and onset of mania symptoms

Dr Marwaha said: "The observed tendency for cannabis use to precede or coincide with rather than follow mania symptoms, and the more specific association between cannabis use and new onset manic symptoms, suggests potential causal influences from cannabis use to the development of mania. It is a significant link."

Medical Marijuana: The State of the Science

Medical cannabinoids are here to stay, but intellectual honesty is imperative if we are moving toward exploiting their potential benefits. Owing to rising THC concentrations of products, "medical" marijuana is rarely good medicine. This review has identified the dangers associated with whole­plant marijuana, whether used for recreational or for supposedly medical purposes.

Marijuana and Mental Illness

Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in America: approximately one in 10 adult Americans report having used marijuana in the past year. In recent years, laws addressing the use and possession of marijuana have been changing, and many states—including Colorado, California, Massachusetts and others—have passed regulations either legalizing marijuana for medical purposes or decriminalizing the non-medical use of marijuana.

Heavy, Frequent Cannabis Use Linked to Mental Illness

A new study suggests people with mental illness are more than seven times as likely to use marijuana weekly than people without a mental illness.

In total, 4.4 percent of individuals with a mental illness in the past 12 months reported using cannabis weekly, compared to 0.6 percent among individuals without any mental illness.

Legalization, Decriminalization & Medicinal Use of Cannabis:A Scientific and Public Health Perspective

The Teen Brain and Marijuana

Even after controlling for the confounding effect of mental illness symptoms preceding marijuana use, these studies showed an increased risk of developing schizophrenia or mood disorders (depression, anxiety) in adulthood if individuals regularly smoked marijuana during adolescence. The risk was particularly heightened if there was any family history of mental illness (i.e., “genetics provided the loaded gun and marijuana pulled the trigger”). Also, mental illness, among those at risk, tended to show up earlier with marijuana use.