The association between regular marijuana use and adult mental health outcomes

Abstract

Objective The present study is a prospective examination of the relationship between regular marijuana use from adolescence through young adulthood and mental health outcomes at age 33. Methods Data came from a gender-balanced, ethnically diverse longitudinal panel of 808 participants from Seattle, Washington. Outcomes included symptom counts for six mental health disorders. Regular marijuana use was tracked during adolescence and young adulthood. Regression analyses controlled for demographics and early environment, behaviors, and individual risk factors. Results Nonusers of marijuana reported fewer symptoms of alcohol use disorder, nicotine dependence, and generalized anxiety disorder than any category of marijuana users. More persistent regular marijuana use in young adulthood was positively related to more symptoms of cannabis use disorder, alcohol use disorder, and nicotine dependence at age 33. Conclusions Findings highlight the importance of avoiding regular marijuana use, especially chronic use in young adulthood. Comprehensive prevention and intervention efforts focusing on marijuana and other substance use might be particularly important in the context of recent legalization of recreational marijuana use in Washington and other U.S. states.

Cannabis use during alcohol treatment is associated with alcohol-related problems one-year post-treatment

“…Both clinical and epidemiological studies have consistently shown that co-use of alcohol and cannabis leads to more physiological, cognitive and behavioral impairment than the use of either substance alone (Chait and Perry, 1994; Downey et al, 2013; Ramaekers et al, 2001; Ronen et al, 2008; Subbaraman, 2016; Subbaraman and Kerr, 2015), which supports the findings that the heaviest cannabis users had more physical problems and injuries attributable to alcohol. However, cannabis use specifically has been linked to depression and/or anxiety, diminished lifetime achievement, and abnormal brain development as well (Guttmannova et al, 2017), which suggests that cannabis use would exacerbate alcoholrelated inter- and intrapersonal problems, as well as impulse control and social responsibility. Although we did see that higher frequencies of cannabis use were related to problems with impulse control and social responsibility at both end of treatment and one-year post-treatment in bivariate tests, these results were not robust to multivariable model specifications in the current study.…”

Cannabis and mental illness: a review

“…For instance, regarding generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), research ranges from a two-fold increased risk of anxiety symptoms with cannabis use to no significant association between the two factors [37,144]. One study supports the relationship between cannabis use and GAD, but not between cannabis use and SAD, further complicating the results [66], while others describe persistent reports of heightened anxiety symptoms in cannabis users compared to non-users [42]. Some studies have investigated the effects of cannabis use in early childhood and adolescent stages, demonstrating an increased risk of developing anxiety symptoms and anxiety disorder, which was strengthened with earlier onset of cannabis use [25,36,69].…”

“…[7,19] There is equivocal evidence suggesting either positive or lack of statistically significant associations between cannabis use and anxiety disorder or anxiety symptoms. [27,34,37,50,66,69,130,144] Randomized, controlled trials and longitudinal, prospective studies are needed to associate specific preparations of cannabis with anxiety outcomes and risk for anxiety development.…”

An overview of the adverse effects of cannabis use for Canadian physicians

“…In addition to the potential physical health consequences, considerable evidence shows an increased risk of mental health disorders associated with cannabis use [60]. However, there is insufficient evidence to fully describe these associations.…”

“…Here we will discuss the evidence for the association of cannabis with psychosis, schizophrenia, anxiety and depression. In addition to these disorders, patients diagnosed with cannabis use disorder (dependence or addiction) have a higher risk of developing other substance-use disorders, eating disorders, conduct disorders and personality disorders [3,60].…”