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Marijuana is not a cause of teen schizophrenia

Paul Hamaker

The Examiner

Wednesday 26 Aug 2015

Teenage boys are much more prone to development of psychotic disorders up to the age of 16. Some researchers have insisted that marijuana use in teenage males causes schizophrenia. A new study conducted by Dr. Tomas Paus, Professor and Chair in Population Neuroscience at Baycrest with the University of Toronto, and colleagues has found that marijuana use does not cause schizophrenia in young men but may accelerate processes that are already genetically in play in the development of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. The study was reported in the August 26, 2105, edition of the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

The results concur with the accepted understanding of schizophrenia as a condition that is produced by both genetic variations in the brain and environmental conditions. People that have a genetic predisposition toward schizophrenia may have the condition accelerated by the use of marijuana before they are 16 years of age. The evidence suggests that marijuana use interferes with the maturation of the cerebral cortex in male adolescents at high risk for schizophrenia.

The study group included 1,571 participants between the ages of 12 and 22. The study involved six percent more males than females because more males are subject to developing schizophrenia at an earlier age. The participants underwent brain imaging, standard tests for schizophrenia, and interview assessments of their use of cannabis. The people that were most genetically prone to develop schizophrenia demonstrated an accelerated development of brain structures that indicate schizophrenia if they used marijuana. The participants that had no genetic predisposition toward schizophrenia demonstrated no brain changes that would indicate schizophrenia.

http://www.examiner.com/article/marijuana-is-not-a-cause-of-teen-schizophrenia

 

 

 

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