On Sunday NBC News published an article regarding the link between high-potency marijuana and psychotic episodes and vomiting.
Among other things, NBC’s report highlights:
- An increase in the number of reports of marijuana users going to the ER due to psychotic episodes and vomiting.
- A 2019 study that found using marijuana with THC levels exceeding 10% increased the odds of a psychotic episode.
- A growing body of research that suggests marijuana can have damaging effects on adolescent brains.
It’s important to point out that most marijuana today qualifies as “high-potency.”
The average amount of THC in marijuana has risen significantly in recent years — especially as states have moved to legalize so-called “medical” and recreational marijuana.
Research like this is part of the reason medical experts have warned children and pregnant women about the dangers of using marijuana.
A recent study out of California found a link between heavy marijuana use during pregnancy and negative health outcomes among children.
Other researchers have found marijuana use fuels self-harm among young men.
And a study recently published in JAMA Pediatrics found that heavy cannabis use among adolescents and young adults with mood disorders is “associated with an elevated risk of self-harm, overall mortality, and death by unintentional overdose and homicide.”
The list goes on, but all of this underscores what we have said for years: Marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.
