Friday, December 03, 2004

Cannabis linked to mental illness risk
Story in The Guardian (UK) - "Some young people who smoke cannabis are at real risk of developing psychotic mental illness, according to a major study announced yesterday. The new survey of 2,500 young people aged 14 to 24 will be discussed at the start of an international conference today on cannabis and mental health convened by the Institute of Psychiatry in London. It shows that regular cannabis smoking increased the risk of developing psychosis by 6% over four years. But there was a substantially greater impact on young people who had already been identified by psychiatrists as having the potential to become psychotic. Regular cannabis smoking raised their risk of developing psychotic mental illness by 25%..."