WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A recent study published in the journal Psychological Medicine found that marijuana use among teens could amplify psychotic episodes.
'This study provides new evidence of a strong but age-dependent association between cannabis use and risk of psychotic disorder, consistent with the neurodevelopmental theory that adolescence is a vulnerable time to use cannabis,' the study said.
For the study, researchers analyzed survey data from 2009 to 2012 along with universal healthcare data of 'respondents aged 12-24 years at baseline with no prior psychotic disorder' from Ontario, Canada.
The findings revealed that teens aged 12 to 19 who used cannabis had an 11 times higher risk of developing a psychotic disorder compared to teens not using cannabis.
'A good 40 percent of current cannabis users are using it daily or near daily, a pattern that is more associated with tobacco use than typical alcohol use,' Jonathan Caulkins, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University and the author of the study, noted.
Also, about 5 in 6 teens who visited the emergency room or were hospitalized for psychotic disorders revealed that cannabis usage has led them to such situations.
However, a similar association between cannabis use and psychotic disorders was not seen in people aged 20 to 33.
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