John Caruso (left) wore a weed-themed hat, sweatshirt, and socks to Rise Medical & Recreational Cannabis Dispensary in Branford, Conn. where he was the third customer to buy recreational cannabis. Rise was one of seven locations that opened for adult-use customers in Connecticut on Tuesday, January 12, 2023.
It’s not your parents’ weed – doctors want young adults to know before they choose to consume marijuana, now decriminalized in Connecticut for people 21 and older.
“The THC [tetrahydrocannabinol] content of cannabis in the ‘60s was about 3-4%,” said Dr. Deepak Cyril D’Souza, professor of psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, and director of the Schizophrenia Neuropharmacology Research Group at Yale. “Now, the average THC content is about four times higher. And there is converging lines of evidence to suggest that exposure to cannabis may contribute to a higher risk of the development of what is [the] most serious of serious mental illnesses.”
D’Souza emphasized that he is not opposed to decriminalization of marijuana, but is deeply concerned about its commercialization. He pointed to parallels in the alcohol and tobacco industries, and the global disease burden as a result of alcohol and tobacco consumption: top 10 worldwide.
Schizophrenia typically appears between the ages of 15 and 24.
As early as 2019, D’Souza raised concerns with state lawmakers on the risk of marijuana on the developing brain, which doesn’t conclude until the age of 25.
The data on new onset psychosis with cannabis consumption and even a drop in IQ among young adults, prompted doctors, including Dr. Gregory Shangold at the Connecticut State Medical Society (CSMS) – to push lawmakers to make 25 the legal age for cannabis consumption. The CSMS is against the current legislation.
“In general people think it’s just a safe drug,” said Shangold, an emergency physician. “We’ve been seeing a lot of people come into the emergency department with acute toxicity effects of THC.”
Another physician, pediatrician Dr. Deepa Camenga of Yale specializing in adolescent medicine, said young people are better off waiting till they are at least 25 before they decide if they want to try cannabis.
Carmenga is also concerned that people who cannot afford to purchase cannabis at medical dispensaries will turn to the unregulated market.
“This cannabis may be marketed as being from a dispensary, but there really is no way to know,” she said.
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