Is your patient’s cannabis use problematic?

Abstract

Is your patient's cannabis use problematic? Individuals who do not meet DSM-5 criteria for cannabis use disorder may still have problematic use. The screening tool and 5 interventions detailed here can help. CASE u Jessica F is a new 23-year-old patient at your clinic who is seeing you to discuss her severe anxiety. She also has asthma and reports during your exploration of her family history that her father has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. She has been using 3 cartridges of cannabis vape daily to help "calm her mind" but has never tried other psychotropic medications and has never been referred to a psychiatrist. How would you proceed with this patient?

Towards a New Dynamic Interaction Model of Adolescent CUD Manifestation, Prevention, and Treatment: A Narrative Review

“…The multidirectional relation between adolescent cannabis use, adolescent brain development and school performance is influenced by the properties and mechanisms of cannabis and individual and environmental risk factors. During adolescence, the combination of changes in social-affective processing and flexibility in PFC recruitment is generally adaptive and developmentally appropriate to the learning demands and tasks of adolescence, but it can also create vulnerabilities to engage in negative behaviors in some incentive situations [24]. In view of the increased sensitivity of the cannabinoid system and the ongoing maturation of particularly frontal regions of the brain during adolescence, exogenous cannabinoids could disrupt normal brain development and have an impact on cognitive function [8].…”

“…on an individual level. Not meeting the CUD DSM criteria does not exclude cannabis use from being problematic for the individual [24].…”