Cannabis: Joints of Mental Illness
With the increasing push to legalise cannabis in western nations there is an estimation that the potential impact of this policy change on vulnerable population such as those with mental illness, including schizophrenia, mood and anxiety disorders. Cannabis is the most likely used illicit drug worldwide. Cannabis sativa is an important herbaceous species originating from central Asia which has been used in folk medicine. Despite the widespread use of cannabis among young people little research attention has been given to the development of pscyhometrically sound measures specific to cannabis related problems. The laws governing cannabis are evolving worldwide are associated with changing pattern of use. Patients with a serious mental illness often use cannabis at higher rates than the general population. Cannabis may induce or exaberate a number of mental health problems. The main psychoactive drug in cannabis is ?9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Cannabidiol, a non-toxicating cannabinoid found in some forms of cannabis, may offset some of these acute effects. Chronic use of cannabis is associated with psychiatric, respiratory, cardiovascular and bone effects. It also has oncogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic effects, all of which depend upon dose and duration of use. The present article mainly reviews about the association between cannabis and mental health.