Well, whaddya know…a new study conducted by researchers from the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, the University of Oxford and the University of Leeds runs counter to arguments put forward by drug prohibitionists by concluding that cannabis use in adolescents does not cause psychotic episodes.

Published in the Psychiatric Research Journal, the report “Psychotic experiences are linked to cannabis use in adolescents in the community because of common underlying environmental risk factors” questioned 4,830 16-year-old twins—to rule out genetic factors—asking whether they had ever tried cannabis? Respondents answered “Yes” or “No.”

The researchers then examined whether the respondents had ever had any psychotic episodes (PE) which were divided into five self-report subscales:

...paranoia (15 items), hallucinations (9 items), cognitive disorganisation (11 items), grandiosity (8 items), anhedonia [the inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable] (10 items) and one parent-rated subscale: parent-rated negative symptoms (10 items)....Response scales related to frequency of experiences for paranoia and hallucinations (“Not at all” (0),“Rarely” (1), “Once a month” (2),“Once a week” (3), “Several times a week” (4), “Daily” (5)).

The end result found that both cannabis use and psychotic episodes were triggered by environmental factors—ranging from being poor to bullying (“peer victimization”).

The report revealed how children who are under stress for other reasons tend to smoke cannabis, and are also at higher risk of psychotic episodes. The researchers found:

Cannabis use and psychotic experience co-occur due to environmental factors.

Focus on specific environments may reveal why adolescent cannabis use and psychotic experiences tend to ‘travel together’.

Exposure to socioeconomic disadvantage may induce stress that triggers the development of psychotic episodes and cannabis use.

However, the report “investigated the association between cannabis use and PEs and not clinical psychosis. Findings should therefore be interpreted with the view of PEs as trait based phenotypes, and not clinical psychosis.”

The whole report can be read here.

It’s not just teenagers who enjoy a smoke… here’s some grandmas trying weed for the first time….
 

 
H/T Metro, via Psychiatric Research Journal