People aged 14 to 20 are more often being diagnosed with psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia, compared with those born earlier, a large Ontario study examining 30 years of data suggests.
To conduct the study, published in Monday’s issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), researchers looked at health administrative data from more than 12 million Ontario residents born between 1960 and 2009 to look for cases of a psychotic disorder.
In the Ontario study, those diagnosed with psychotic disorders not linked to mood disorders, such as schizophrenia, were more likely to be male, live in low-income neighbourhoods, be a long-standing resident of Canada and have received care for mental health disorders and substance use.
Why isn’t known. Myran and his co-authors suggest several possible reasons for the increases: older parental age, socioeconomic- and migration-associated stress and an increase in some negative childhood experiences like abuse in more recent decades.
Myran said there likely isn’t a single explanation, but he called substance use — including cannabis, stimulants, hallucinogens and synthetic drugs — a leading possibility contributing to the rising rates over 20 years.
I watched a kid (at least 17 or 18, but possibly 19) get turned away from the weed store the other day. Ya know what I never had a hard time with as a teenager living in a pre-legalization era? Buying weed!!! If you asked me today where I would go to get weed that isn’t a legal dispensary that IDs minors, I wouldn’t know where to go.
Do you think it’s easier for 14-19 year olds to get weed now than it was 10-11 years ago? I really don’t.
I cannot believe that these numbers are rising due to cannabis consumption, that seems like a really unlikely probability, to me at least?
Synthetic drugs have been making people fall into dangerous psychoses for almost the entire time synthetic cannabis has been sold to humans.
Yeah I don’t think you could attribute it to weed alone, but a lot of younger folks aren’t smoking flower they’re hitting ultra concentrated vape pens. It’s fine in moderation but I know most teens aren’t super hot on moderation. There are also loads of these Delta-8 and other cannabinoid concentrate vapes sold cheap online and who knows what’s in those things.
I hit the same vapes, legal and black market, and my biggest concern would be toxic metal poisoning from sucking on low quality vape carts over excessive cannabinoids uptake.
Yeah that’s a definite concern too, or adulteration with a cheaper product ie synthetic cannabinoids. I guess it all comes down to making sure you’re getting things from verified and trusted manufacturers as with any consumer product.
High THC weed, instead of balanced. We know a few people hospitalized because of weed psychosis
I know a person who was hospitalized from weed psychosis, he actually fought a cop, but he smoked like, a pound of weed and was also a bit older than 20.
I don’t have it handy but I remember seeing research years ago that pointed out the link between cannabis use and schizophrenia especially in males under 20, but wasn’t able to identify whether it was causation or whether the patients were self medicating with cannabis.