The Risks of Adolescent Marijuana Smokers Becoming Schizophrenics

Saturday, 29 April 2017

Our Prime Minister, always keen to be seen to be with it and on the go on hip issues made the election promise to decriminalise the use of marijuana.

Now more keen than ever  to be seen to be with it and on the go on hip issues, and keen to deliver on his election promise is investing a great deal of government’s time to deal with the matter as it gets  entangled in the numerous  and complex  legal, policy and political issues raised by it.

In the process, serious public health issues raised by the use of marijuana are not getting the urgent attention they deserve.

I propose to address one among these issues; namely, the recent finding that  adolescents who have a genetic  pre-disposition or susceptibility  to schizophrenia- those who have psychiatric disorders in their families  -  run a high risk  of becoming schizophrenics if they smoke pot or use cannabis in other ways.

This is the key finding of the research conducted by Dr. Ran Barzilay and led by Professor Dani Offen of Tel-Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine recently published in Human Molecular Genetics, 2017; DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddx139.

This research further refines the findings of a previous study of Dr Áine Behan Department of Physiology, RCSI(Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) and associates, published in Neuropsychopharmacology (2012) 37, 1773–1783.That was the first study that


 a)  showed that

1. the combined effects of the COMT gene with adolescent cannabis use cause physical changes in  specific brain regions associated with or implicated in schizophrenia;
2. adolescent  cannabis use increases the risk of developing schizophrenia, and

 b)  supported previous behavioural research which has shown the COMT gene to influence the effects of adolescent cannabis use on schizophrenia-related behaviour.

Clearly, findings such as these will have to be factored into the legislation or to the regulations made pursuant to the legislation, in framing the manner in which marijuana will be made available to adolescents, with particular attention to those who are genetically susceptible to schizophrenia. 

More importantly, it is incumbent upon the government to formulate, finance and implement a preventive public health program to address the kinds of health risks created by the use of marijuana by members of the various segments of the population at risk, such as the adolescents, before enacting the legislation, to enable the provinces to set up and get it ready to operate immediately after the legislation is enacted.