What comes first - cannabis use or symptoms of psychosis?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-11-07 03:00

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The link between cannabis use as a young person and increased psychosis spectrum symptoms could be partially due to young people with those symptoms self-medicating with cannabis, according to international researchers. The team used data from a youth brain development study that followed young people from the ages of about 10 to 15 to compare cannabis use, symptoms related to psychosis and the amount of distress the teens were experiencing related to those symptoms. The researchers say cannabis use was associated with a higher risk of psychosis, however, while the evidence was mixed around whether beginning to use cannabis was linked to increasing symptoms, they found clearer evidence of psychosis-related symptoms increasing in the lead-up to first using cannabis. The researchers say we should account for the possibility of some teens self-medicating because of existing symptoms when trying to understand the link between cannabis and psychosis.