Burned Out – The Impact of THC on Teens
Bottom Line: It appears the effort to place recreational marijuana on Florida’s midterm election ballots has stalled out for this cycle with Smart & Safe Florida failing to produce enough legal signatures to qualify for consideration. With that said the proliferation of cannabis medically has also led to high usage rates in the state generally. Teen marijuana use in Florida was most recently measured at 12%, with adult usage measuring at 20.5%, or more than a fifth of Floridians. With the rising trend of marijuana usage in mind comes a new study about the impact of Mary J on the mind.
A major study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal reveals a significant rise in psychosis diagnoses among teenagers and young adults in Ontario, Canada.
Key findings included:
- Among individuals aged 14 to 20 years, new cases of psychotic disorders increased by 60% from 1997 to 2023
- By age 30, the cumulative number of diagnoses rose by 37.5% for those born in 1990–1994 versus 1975–1979.
- Diagnoses are occurring at younger ages overall, with teens in recent generations facing more than double the risk by age 20 compared to those born in the late 1970s.
And what’s behind the dramatic rise? Researchers point to potential contributing factors such as rising substance use especially cannabis, stimulants, hallucinogens, and synthetics, which has increased in Canada over the past two decades and is strongly linked to earlier onset and worsening of psychotic disorders.
For many years that narrative has existed that concerns about marijuana use were over blown. However, increasingly research is showing that its use, especially prolonged use, is behind significantly rising issues with users' minds.