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by National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre
In the first Australian study of its kind, 559 cannabis-related deaths identified between 2000 and 2018 have been examined by researchers at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), UNSW Sydney.
The leading cause of death was accidental injury (30 percent), followed by suicide (25 percent), and polysubstance toxicity (17 percent).
Lead author, Ms Emma Zahra said motor vehicle accidents were the leading cause of accidental injury deaths (75 percent).
"One in five motor vehicle accident deaths were pedestrians, highlighting that acute cannabis and polysubstance intoxication can affect information processing and perception of risk."
None of the deaths identified were due to cannabis toxicity alone.
The mean age of death was 35.8 years and more than 80 percent of cases were male. 62 percent were aged under 40 years with the highest proportion of cases in the 30-39 age bracket.
"Men were over-represented and were three times more likely to die due to accidental injury than women," said Ms Zahra
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Abstract
Cannabis is the third most used psychoactive substance worldwide. The legal status of cannabis is changing in many Western countries, while we have very limited knowledge of the public health impact of cannabis-related harms. There is a need for a summary of the evidence of harms and risks attributed to cannabis use, in order to inform the definition of cannabis risky use. We have conducted a systematic review of systematic reviews, aiming to define cannabis- related harms. We included systematic reviews published until July 2018 from six different databases and following the PRISMA guidelines. To assess study quality we applied the AMSTAR 2 tool. A total of 44 systematic reviews, including 1,053 different studies, were eligible for inclusion.
Harm was categorized in three dimensions: mental health, somatic harm and physical injury (including mortality).
Evidence shows a clear association between cannabis use and psychosis, affective disorders, anxiety, sleep disorders, cognitive failures, respiratory adverse events, cancer, cardiovascular outcomes, and gastrointestinal disorders.
Moreover, cannabis use is a risk factor for motor vehicle collision, suicidal behavior and partner and child violence. Cannabis use is a risk factor for several medical conditions and negative social consequences. There is still little data on the dose-dependency of these effects; evidence that is essential in order to define, from a public health perspective, what can be considered risky use of cannabis.
This definition should be based on quantitative and qualitative criteria that informs and permits the evaluation of current approaches to a regulated cannabis market.
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She couldn’t see how it was effecting her – Users nearly always don’t
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The Lancet Psychiatry: Single dose of psychoactive component in cannabis could induce psychotic, depressive, and anxiety symptoms in healthy people
THE LANCET
- In addition, the review found no consistent evidence that cannabidiol (CBD) moderates the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC - the psychoactive component of cannabis) in healthy volunteers
- Single dose of THC, roughly equivalent to smoking one joint, may induce a variety of psychiatric symptoms associated with schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. These effects are larger with intravenous administration than with inhaled administration, while tobacco smokers have fewer symptoms - though the authors stress that further work is needed to test this, and this finding should not be taken as a recommendation to use tobacco to counter the effects of THC.
- These findings highlight the risks of cannabis use, which are highly relevant as medical, societal, and political interest in cannabinoids continues to grow.
A single dose of the main psychoactive component in cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), can induce a range of psychiatric symptoms, according to results of a systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 studies including 331 people with no history of psychotic or other major psychiatric disorders, published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal. #weed #preventdontpromote
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New research identifies the possible frequency and severity of a broad range of adverse reactions to cannabis use.
A study featuring in the Journal of Cannabis Research identifies the possible frequency and severity of a range of acute adverse reactions to cannabis use. The researchers also investigate factors that might make a person more susceptible to these adverse reactions.
The team was specifically interested in acute adverse reactions, in which negative side effects happen for a short duration. The authors note that previous research has explored different chronic adverse reactions to cannabis use, whereas there is less research on acute adverse effects.
Dr. Carrie Cuttler, an assistant professor of psychology at Washington State University, Pullman, and one of the paper’s authors, notes, “There’s been surprisingly little research on the prevalence or frequency of various adverse reactions to cannabis and almost no research trying to predict who is more likely to experience these types of adverse reactions.”
More than half of the respondents reported the most prevalent acute adverse reactions to cannabis use; these were coughing fits, anxiety, and paranoia. The least prevalent were fainting, nonauditory or visual hallucinations, and cold sweats.
The adverse reactions that occurred most frequently were coughing fits, chest discomfort, and body humming (a buzzing or tingling sensation in the body). These reactions occurred 30–40% of the times the respondents used cannabis.
The reactions that the participants considered most distressing were panic attacks, vomiting, and fainting. They rated body humming, numbness, and feeling unsteady as the least distressing.
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