According to a new study, cannabis abuse has been linked to a higher risk of schizophrenia.

The study out of Denmark has found that, in the past 25 years, the number of schizophrenia cases connected to cannabis use has increased.

Published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, the study also found that while only 2 percent of schizophrenia diagnoses in 1995 were associated with marijuana use, by 2010, that figure had risen to approximately 8 percent.

Authors of the study think their findings reflect that cannabis, despite its positive reputation relative to other recreational drugs, can be dangerous and have serious medical side effects.

Decades worth of data from Denmark’s national health registry had been studied, focusing on extreme users with cannabis treatment disorder.

“There is, unfortunately, evidence to suggest that cannabis is increasingly seen as a somewhat harmless substance. This is unfortunate, since we see links with schizophrenia, poorer cognitive function, substance use disorders,” study author and associate professor at the Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health Carsten Hjorthøj said to CNN.

“I think it is highly important to use both our study and other studies to highlight and emphasize that cannabis use is not harmless,” the author added.

According to the study’s authors, the drug should not be viewed as a “harmless” drug with these findings.

“Of course, our findings will have to be replicated elsewhere before firm conclusions can be drawn,” Hjorthøj said. “But I do feel fairly confident that we will see similar patterns in places where problematic use of cannabis has increased, or where the potency of cannabis has increased, since many studies suggest that high-potency cannabis is probably the driver of the association with schizophrenia.”

 


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