Psychotic Illness Linked to Cannibis and Other Substances

Pot has often been called the "gateway drug" due to it's ability to introduce a person to the world of drug use with seemingly benign side effects. Apparently, this is no longer the widely-held belief. Researchers have found that early-onset psychotic illness has been linked to the use of cannibis.

ScienceDaily.com has published an article on this very subject. As with other blog entries, I'll attempt to give a short synopsis of the article (call it "research lite" if you will):

• Cannibis is used by more than 16 million Americans (translation: this doesn't include all the people hanging out in Netherlands' "Red Light District")
• Pot is not the only substance linked to psychotic illness; think: methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder
• Those who use drugs, and more often, use pot, develop symptoms of psychosis an average of 2 years younger than those who do not use drugs
• Those who are predisposed to developing schizophrenia can influence the symptoms' early appearance by using cannibis
• Those who have early onset of schizophrenia tend to have a worse prognosis overall
• Smoking cigarettes while pregnant has been linked to the development of psychotic symptoms in the child during their teenage years (thanks ScienceDaily.com)

If you do not have a genetic propensity to develop psychotic disorder, you won't necessarily develop one by substance use. Schizophrenia won't be "caused" by substance use. But, as stated above, methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder is real. Cigarettes are more malicious than they sound. And, who wants to take a chance anyways?