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JAMA Psychiatry. 2021;78(9):1013-1019. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.1471
Question: Has the population-attributable risk fraction for cannabis use disorder in schizophrenia increased over time, as would be expected with increasing use and potency of cannabis?
Findings: In this Danish nationwide, register-based cohort study, the population-attributable risk fraction for cannabis use disorder in schizophrenia increased from approximately 2% in the period to 1995 to approximately 6% to 8% since 2010.
Meaning: These findings may indicate that cannabis use disorders are associated with an increase in the proportion of cases of schizophrenia.
Abstract
Importance: Cannabis use and potency of cannabis have increased during the past 2 decades. If the association between cannabis use and schizophrenia is causal, this should be reflected in an increase in the proportion of cases of schizophrenia being attributable to cannabis, the population-attributable risk fraction (PARF).
Objective: To determine whether the PARF for cannabis use disorder in schizophrenia has increased over time.
Exposure: Diagnosis of cannabis use disorder.
Main Outcomes and Measures: Diagnosis of schizophrenia, with estimated PARF of cannabis use disorder in schizophrenia from 1972 to 2016.
Results: A total of 7 186 834 individuals were included in the analysis, including 3 595 910 women (50.0%) and 3 590 924 men (50.0%). The adjusted hazard ratio for schizophrenia fluctuated at approximately 4 (with 95% CIs ranging from approximately 3 to 6) throughout most of the study period when people diagnosed with cannabis use disorder were compared with those without cannabis use disorder. The PARF of cannabis use disorder in schizophrenia also fluctuated, but with clear evidence of an increase from 1995 (when the PARF was relatively stable around 2.0%, with a 95% CI of approximately 0.3% to either side) until reaching some stability around 6.0% to 8.0% (with a 95% CI of approximately 0.5% to either side) since 2010.
Conclusions and Relevance: The results from these longitudinal analyses show the proportion of cases of schizophrenia associated with cannabis use disorder has increased 3- to 4-fold during the past 2 decades, which is expected given previously described increases in the use and potency of cannabis. This finding has important ramifications regarding legalization and control of use of cannabis.
For more Data on Cannabis impact on Mental Health
All Young Cannabis Users Face Psychosis Risk
Cannabis & Psychosis – irrefutable
Cannabis & Mental Health – Professor Copeland
Does Marijuana Cause Mental Illness?
Do You Think You Know? Does Cannabis Cause Mental Illness?
Cannabis & Psychosis: Understanding risk is of 'vital importance'
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CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Considerable growth was observed in the prevalence of CUD diagnoses among individuals hospitalized prenatally and in the prevalence of depression, anxiety, nausea, and other conditions in individuals with CUD at hospitalization. This study highlights the need for more screening, prevention, and treatment, particularly in populations with co-occurring CUD and psychiatric disorders. Research on the determinants and outcomes associated with CUD during pregnancy is needed to guide clinicians, policy makers, and patients in making informed decisions.
(Also Cannabis use disorder rising significantly during Pregnancy )
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JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(9):e2125063. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.25063
Question Has the number of vomiting-related emergency department visits increased after recreational cannabis legalization in Colorado?
Findings In this cross-sectional study of 820 778 patients seeking care through Colorado emergency departments, cannabis legalization was associated with an increase in annual vomiting-related health care encounters. The highest increases were observed in counties without existing medical dispensaries.
Meaning These findings suggest that health care clinicians in states that have legalized cannabis should be aware of symptoms associated with cannabis hyperemesis syndrome; documentation may help ensure accurate public health surveillance on consequences associated with cannabis legalization.
Abstract
Importance Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome is an emerging clinical issue associated with cannabis use. Legalization of cannabis has led to an increase in vomiting-related illnesses in health care settings.
Objective To examine whether legalization of cannabis in Colorado has been associated with increases in vomiting-related emergency department (ED) visits.
Results Vomiting-related ED health care encounters increased from 119 312 in 2013 to 153 699 in 2018 (29% increase). Over this period, 203 861 patients (25%) were aged 0 to 18 years; 114 201 (14%) were aged 19 to 25 years, and 502 771 (61%) were aged 26 years or older; 510 584 patients (62%) were female. Additional recreational dispensaries were associated with increased vomiting-related ED visits (incidence rate ratio, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01-1.05), but counties with high baseline medical dispensary exposure experienced smaller increases in vomiting-related ED visits than counties with no baseline medical dispensary exposure (incidence rate ratio, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.95-0.99). Counties with a high number of medical marijuana dispensaries had increases at a 5.8% slower rate than counties with none.
Conclusions and Relevance The findings of this study suggest that cannabis legalization in Colorado is associated with an increase in annual vomiting-related health care encounters with regard to exposure to these markets. It may be useful for health care clinicians to be aware of cannabis hyperemesis syndrome and inquire about cannabis use when appropriate.
For complete research https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2784270?resultClick=3
Other Research on ‘Scromiting’
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Local government opposition, high taxes and competition from unlicensed businesses are complicating the state's push to build a thriving legal market.
California’s cannabis law lets local officials decide whether to open the door to cannabis or slam it shut. So far, most are opting for the
By ALEXANDER NIEVES 10/23/2021 07:00 AM EDT
LOS ANGELES — California’s cannabis market is booming nearly five years after voters legalized recreational weed. But there’s a catch: the vast majority of pot sales are still underground.
Rather than make cannabis a Main Street fixture, California’s strict regulations have led most industry operators to close shop, flee the state or sell in the state’s illegal market that approaches $8 billion annually, twice the volume of legal sales.
Local government opposition, high taxes and competition from unlicensed businesses are complicating California’s push to build a thriving legal market. Many of those factors are baked into California law, including rules allowing city leaders to shut out licensed cannabis enterprises. Meanwhile, the state has relaxed penalties against illegal operations in the name of racial justice.
Infighting between industry groups and lobbying dysfunction in Sacramento have stalled potential legislative fixes, with no clear end in sight. The scale of those problems has California’s iconic cannabis industry — the legal side, at least — lagging behind other states that have regulated the market.
“You don't have a real cannabis industry if the dominant portion of it has no interest in being legal,” said Adam Spiker, executive director of the Southern California Coalition, a cannabis trade association. “There's no other regulated industry in the world that I know of that operates like that.”
Licensed cannabis shops offering legal goods are sparsely scattered across the state — there are roughly 2 per 100,000 people, one of the lowest rates in the nation among states that support legal recreational sales.
By comparison, Oregon has 17.9 retail shops for every 100,000 residents. Colorado boasts a similar ratio, and Washington state’s rate is more than triple California’s.
California has just 823 licensed brick-and-mortar cannabis shops, but close to 3,000 retailers and delivery services operate in the state without a permit, a February 2020 market analysis by Marijuana Business Daily found.
The unchecked cannabis ecosystem has caused major economic and environmental damage in California. Many of the state's estimated 50,000 illegal cultivation sites have been found to use banned pesticides that can poison wildlife and water supplies and are believed to account for hundreds of millions of gallons in water stolen from farms and neighboring communities each year.
Law enforcement agencies in the last few months alone have broken up sprawling grow operations in the arid Antelope Valley and urban Alameda County, discovering around 50 tons of processed cannabis goods and more than 100,000 plants, a haul valued well above $1 billion.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced earlier this week that the state had seized 165 weapons and more than 33 tons of infrastructure like water lines and toxic chemicals after conducting close to 500 raids this year.
“The victims of illegal marijuana cultivation are many and the toll is severe,” he said during a news conference. “Families whose water supply is polluted by outlawed pesticides, exploited labor exposed to dangerous and illegal working conditions, farmers deprived of clean soil and water.”
Lawmakers and Capitol staffers say this disunity makes legislative fixes nearly impossible to pass and perpetuates the status quo. That’s a scenario the industry can’t afford, given “the overhead costs that the illegal guy doesn’t do,” Spiker warned.
“The divide between legal and illegal is too big a gap to overcome."
For complete article go to California’s legal weed industry can’t compete with illicit market - POLITICO
Further reading…
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Prevalence of Adolescent Cannabis Vaping: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of US and Canadian Studies.
JAMA Pediatr. Published online October 25, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.4102
Key Points
Question: What is the prevalence of adolescent cannabis vaping in the US and Canada?
Findings: This systematic review and meta-analysis reviewed 17 unique studies from the US and Canada, with a total of 198 845 adolescents, and found that the lifetime prevalence of cannabis vaping doubled from 2013 to 2020 (6.1% to 13.6%), past 12-month use doubled from 2017 to 2020 (7.2% to 13.2%), and the 30-day prevalence of cannabis vaping increased 7-fold from 2013 to 2020 (1.6% to 8.4%). Preference for cannabis products may be shifting from dried herb to cannabis oil.
Meaning: The findings of this study suggest that more effective prevention and response measures are required to mitigate the increasing prevalence of cannabis vaping among adolescents.
Abstract
Importance: Vaping products were initially designed to deliver nicotine as a tobacco cigarette substitute (eg, electronic cigarettes) but are now frequently used to deliver psychoactive substances, such as cannabis and its derivatives. Large, nationally representative surveys, such as Monitoring the Future, found that approximately 1 in 3 grade-12 students vaped cannabis in 2018 alone.
Objective: To summarize the findings of epidemiological studies that reported the global prevalence of cannabis vaping in adolescents by survey year and school grades.
Main Outcomes and Measures: Prevalence of cannabis vaping.
Results: Seventeen studies met the eligibility criteria (n = 198 845 adolescents). Although no restrictions were imposed on study location, all 17 studies were from the US and Canada. Across all school grades, the pooled prevalence increased for lifetime use (6.1% in 2013-2016 to 13.6% in 2019-2020), use in the past 12 months (7.2% in 2017-2018 to 13.2% in 2019-2020), and use in the past 30 days (1.6% in 2013-2016 to 8.4% in 2019-2020). Heterogeneity across studies was large. The limited evidence from studies using similar survey and study designs suggested that adolescents’ preference for cannabis products other than dried herbs, which usually contain higher Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol levels, may have shifted over time.
Conclusions and Relevance: The findings of this study suggest that the prevalence of cannabis vaping has increased among adolescents in the US and Canada and that more effective preventive and response measures are required.
(D
algarno Institute Comment – Again, a ‘harm reduction’ product that not only ‘isn’t’, yet one that is easily hijacked by pro-drug actors to enable and equip illicit drug use, and most tragically, among the now ‘propagandized’ young.)
- Marijuana use and high-risk health behaviors among diverse college students post- legalization of recreational marijuana use
- Marijuana and Your Risk of Lung Cancer
- Cannabis and the Gateway Drug Theory: Correlation or Causation – Where does the Evidence Point? (DRR October 2021)
- Tolerance of cannabis is growing just as scientists show that it can cause insanity