Growing Evidence of Cannabis Use and Schizophrenia

I don’t want to be alarmist but there is growing evidence linking cannabis use (and we use cannabis here meaning the THC version) and severe mental health outcomes.  Cannabis use is an issue that concerns us as many of the families that use Gobi do so because their teen is using cannabis. While there is still much research to do, we are starting to learn that in the case of teens, things are different. Since their brains are still developing, the side effects associated with cannabis can be more unexpected.

 A new study found links between teen cannabis use and schizophrenia that are more alarming than expected, with the research suggesting there’s a link between the two no matter whether teens use the drug frequently or infrequently.

To be clear there is no formal evidence that shows that cannabis causes schizophrenia, but researchers are seeing that there is a strong link between teen use and more severe mental health outcomes, especially with families that have a history of mental illness.

At Gobi we often get parents saying their teen is using cannabis or alcohol to displace their feels of depression or anxiety.  We will soon be launching new tracks to address the issue of why substance use may not be a good long-term solution.