There are still pressing questions lingering in the hazy aftermath of marijuana's legalization in some states. As current states are observing explosions in tax revenue from their cannabis industries, and even more local governments are working
quickly to make weed legal for both medical and recreational purposes,
some are questioning whether the green leaf has any negative long-term
health effects, like mental illness.
The answer isn't as simple as lighting up in a state like Washington or Colorado. Though multiple studies
have linked smoking marijuana to mental illnesses such as psychosis
(schizophrenia) and depression, the cause and effect relation between
pot and these health concerns is quite complex.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse
reported on a number of studies in 2015 that found links to long-term
mental health issues and smoking marijuana. The only problem, however,
is there are plethora of other factors that go into a person developing
mental health issues — one of those being the age of the first-time weed
user. Other factors might include how frequently they use and their
genetic disposition to developing such symptoms in the first place, even
if they never picked up a joint.
"Recent research has found that marijuana users who carry a
specific variant of the AKT1 gene, which codes for an enzyme that
affects dopamine signaling in the striatum, are at increased risk of
developing psychosis," the National Institute on Drug Abuse noted in
2015. "The striatum is an area of the brain that becomes activated and
flooded with dopamine when certain stimuli are present. One study found
that the risk for those with this variant was seven times higher for
daily marijuana users compared with infrequent- or non-users."
So which came first, the chicken or the egg? While
it might seem clear smoking weed can lead to psychosis after years of
consumption given the user carries that gene variant, what isn't exactly
obvious is whether lighting up causes mental health issues, or
vice versa. As research
at the state and federal level is inadequate, it makes it difficult to
determine exactly what the drug's relationship might be to schizophrenia
— it could be just as likely a person in the early stages of a mental
health illness is more inclined to try getting high than those who
aren't.
"There are several ways to explain the link between
cannabis use and psychosis, and a causal relationship has not yet been
firmly established," Joseph M. Pierre, co-chief of the Schizophrenia
Treatment Unit at the Veterans Administration West Los Angeles
Healthcare Center, wrote in a 2011 Current Psychiatry report, according
to American News X.
"Current evidence supports that cannabis is a 'component
cause' of chronic psychosis, meaning although neither necessary nor
sufficient, cannabis use at a young age increases the likelihood of
developing schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders. The overall
magnitude of risk appears to be modest, and cannabis use is only one of
myriad factors that increase the risk of psychosis. Furthermore, most
cannabis users do not develop psychosis. However, the risk associated
with cannabis occurs during a vulnerable time of development and is
modifiable."
Whether or not marijuana causes mental health issues at
any rate is still entirely unknown, as the most recent research
suggesting there may be some sort of link. However, as more states
legalize cannabis, the weed industry will quickly widen, allowing for
publicly funded organizations to begin researching marijuana's long-term
effects.
Until then, it might be best to remember: you can almost always have too much of a good thing — even pot.
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