Association between cannabis use and various psychiatric syndromes does exist, but their nature remains elusive. Cannabis intoxication, 'cannabis psychosis' and certain other conditions related with cannabis use like flashbacks and prolonged depersonalization are discussed in this paper. The controversial nature of the cannabis - schizophrenia link is noted, and various methodological issues in...

AIMS To assess the associations between types of cannabis control policies at country level and prevalence of adolescent cannabis use. SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND DESIGN Multilevel logistic regressions were performed on 172,894 adolescents 15 year of age who participated in the 2001/2002, 2005/2006, or 2009/2010 cross-sectional Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey in 38 Europe...

BACKGROUND Cannabis exposure, particularly heavy cannabis use, has been associated with neuroanatomical alterations in regions rich with cannabinoid receptors such as the hippocampus in some but not in other (mainly cross-sectional) studies. However, it remains unclear whether continued heavy cannabis use alters hippocampal volume, and whether an earlier age of onset and/or a higher dosage exac...

BACKGROUND Controversy remains as to whether cannabis acts as a causal risk factor for schizophrenia or other functional psychotic illnesses. AIMS To examine critically the evidence that cannabis causes psychosis using established criteria of causality. METHOD We identified five studies that included a well-defined sample drawn from population-based registers or cohorts and used prospective...

AIM To model the impact of rising rates of cannabis use on the incidence and prevalence of psychosis under four hypotheses about the relationship between cannabis use and psychosis. METHODS The study modelled the effects on the prevalence of schizophrenia over the lifespan of cannabis in eight birth cohorts: 1940-1944, 1945-1949, 1950-1954, 1955-1959, 1960-1964, 1965-1969, 1970-1974, 1975-197...

Cannabis smoking can create respiratory problems. Vaporizers heat cannabis to release active cannabinoids, but remain cool enough to avoid the smoke and toxins associated with combustion. Vaporized cannabis should create fewer respiratory symptoms than smoked cannabis. We examined self-reported respiratory symptoms in participants who ranged in cigarette and cannabis use. Data from a large Inte...

BACKGROUND Cannabis use is associated with an earlier age at onset of psychotic illness. The aim of the present study was to examine whether this association is confounded by gender or other substance use in a large cohort of patients with a non-affective psychotic disorder. METHOD In 785 patients with a non-affective psychotic disorder, regression analysis was used to investigate the indepen...

OBJECTIVE Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in developed nations. In adolescent girls especially, rates of cannabis use have increased over the last decade, urging the need to characterize the potential correlates of onset of cannabis use during emerging adulthood. METHOD Using data from 1065 females (collected 1994-2005) who participated in both the baseline and follow-up wave ...

OBJECTIVE Cannabis use is common among opioid-dependent patients, but studies of its association with treatment outcome are mixed. In this secondary analysis, the association of cannabis use with opioid treatment outcome is assessed. METHODS In the main study, participants (n=152) aged 15-21 years were randomized to receive psychosocial treatments and either a 12-week course of buprenorphine-...

This paper presents an overview of the prospective cohort design of the Dutch Cannabis Dependence (CanDep) study, which investigates (i) the three-year natural course of frequent cannabis use (≥ three days per week in the past 12 months) and cannabis dependence; and (ii) the factors involved in the transition from frequent non-dependent cannabis use to cannabis dependence, and remission from de...