Young men with cannabis use disorder, or excessive dependency on marijuana consumption, are at higher risk of developing schizophrenia, according to a study led by researchers at the Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health.
The study, published in Psychological Medicine, analyzed health records spanning five decades and representing more than 6 million people in Denmark to estimate the fraction of schizophrenia cases that could be attributed to cannabis use disorder on the population level.
What Is Cannabis Use Disorder?
While there does not appear to be any evidence that users develop physiological dependencies for cannabis in the same way that they do for cocaine or opioids, cannabis dependence affects a small subsection of the population. While NIDA cites delusions and psychosis as side effects of smoking high-potency cannabis on …