San Francisco — As cannabis legalization and commercialization continue to expand across the United States, a new literature review presented at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting raises concerns about how such policy changes are associated with potential mental health risks related to psychosis.

The review, presented by lead author Jeonghyun Shin, M.D., M.P.H., examined emerging evidence on cannabis policy changes, cannabis use patterns, and psychosis-related outcomes. The review separately examines transitional age youth, as this age group is particularly vulnerable to the developmental impacts of cannabis use, especially frequent use and use of high-potency products.

Previous research has found mixed results regarding the correlation between cannabis policies and psychosis. This study aims to synthesize emerging evidence on the impact of cannabis policy reform on psychosis and identify critical research gaps and future directions. The systematic review included a total of 33 studies looking at the relationship between changes in cannabis-related policies and psychosis. More than one-third of the studies (36.4%; n=12) reported results on transitional-age youth.

The most commonly studied outcomes were cannabis use among individuals with psychosis or clinical high risk, emergency department visits/inpatient hospitalizations associated with psychosis, and diagnoses of psychosis-spectrum disorders.

For next steps, the researchers plan to extract data and synthesize results detailing cannabis policy changes on psychosis, analyzing by age group (transitional age youth vs. general population) and various psychosis-related outcomes.

The study authors include Jeonghyun Shin, M.D., M.P.H., Jamie Baik, M.D., M.Ed., Elif Ozan, M.D., and Hyun Jung Kim, M.D.

American Psychiatric Association

The American Psychiatric Association, founded in 1844, is the oldest medical association in the country. The APA is also the largest psychiatric association in the world with more than 40,400 physician members specializing in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and research of mental illnesses. APA’s vision is to ensure access to quality psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. For more information, please visit www.psychiatry.org.