A new study in the journalJAMA Psychiatryhighlights a possible contact between cannabis use upset andschizophrenia . Researchers examined the aesculapian records of more than seven million people in Denmark , and find that the phone number of schizophrenia case that may be attributable to cannabis addiction has increase three- to four - fold in the preceding 25 years .
To date , no direct causal link betweencannabisand schizophrenia has been witness – although the discipline author note that both the usage and potency of cannabis in Denmark have increase dramatically over the past few decades . Should such an connexion in reality exist , then this drift should be reflected in an accompanying wage hike in the ratio of schizophrenia cases being attributable to the manipulation of the drug .
Using data point from the national health register , the researcher analyzed the records of every Danish individual hold before 2001 , who was 16 or older at any time between 1972 and 2016 . In doing so , they plant that two percentage of schizophrenic disorder cases in 1995 were affiliate with cannabis habituation , yet this rose to four per centum at the turn of the millenary and has increased to between six and eight percent in the years since 2010 .
“ The ratio of case of schizophrenia associated with cannabis use disorder has increased 3- to 4 - fold during the preceding 2 decades , which is look given previously report growth in the use and potency of marijuana , ” write the study authors . To clarify , these percentages exemplify “ an estimate of the proportion of cases of dementia praecox that would have been prevented if no individuals had been break ( in this case to cannabis use upset ) . ”
Interpreting these figures , the investigator go on to explicate that such an notice is “ not actual validation of a causal connection ” betweencannabis dependence and psychosis , but that it “ provides grounds of the theory of cannabis being a component part cause of dementia praecox . ”
It ’s also important to note that this survey does not link regular cannabis use to schizophrenia , but relates only to cannabis utilization disorder . This is fix as problematic use of the drug , include an unfitness to cease or reduce consumption , as well as a steady increase in aspiration and tolerance .
Nevertheless , the authors state that their finding have “ important ramifications regarding legalization and control of exercise of cannabis , ” and call for more research into the potential harms of the drug .
A number of leading academician have reacted to the study – include some who query the conclusions soak up by the authors . For deterrent example , Professor David Curtis of the University College London Genetics Instituteexplainedthat “ while it is genuine that citizenry diagnosed with schizophrenic disorder are also more likely to be name with cannabis usance upset , the understanding for this affiliation are far from exonerated and it is extremely difficult to construe results such as these with confidence . ”
“ If , as the generator suggest , cannabis use disorder can have schizophrenia then there should have been a quite dramatic increase in schizophrenic disorder relative incidence and we plainly do not see that . So far as I can see , this bailiwick does not really provide sustenance for the hypothesis that marihuana use cause dementia praecox . ”
