“worse mental health was consistently associated with current and lifetime cannabis use among youth,” notes an abstract of the research paper to be published in the february edition of the international journal of drug policy .
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with both studies indicating “replicable association between indicators of mental health and youth cannabis use,” the researchers point out the “potentially causal etiological (causing or contributing to disease development) relationships inferred from hbsc data were supported in longitudinal findings based on compass.”
a university of toronto review published in addiction last june, looking at young people aged 15 to 24, reiterated youth use. the review, which considered information from five academic databases, found “there are increasing concerns about the adverse effects of cannabis use on youth physical and mental health.”
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even information from the government of canada , which made clear that protecting youth was one of the goals during legalization of adult-use cannabis, offers some key messages for youths between the ages of 13 and 17 (which would cover grades 9 and 10).
a canadian/australian study published in journal of the canadian academy of child and adolescent psychiatry last year, however, found that several years post-legalization, “there appears to have been no marked increase in cannabis use by youth in canada yet.”
a canadian review released in june 2021, which looked at compass data, found ever-use of weed among students increased from 30.5 per cent in 2016-2017 to 32.4 per cent in 2018-2019. still, “it appears that cannabis legalization has not yet been followed by pronounced changes on youth cannabis use,” it notes, but emphasizes “these data suggest that the cannabis act has not yet led to the reduction in youth cannabis use envisioned in its public health approach.”
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yet more canadian research , this time released in 2020 and out of the university of waterloo (uw) highlighted “a discrepancy between the recommendation that individuals with some mental health problems should avoid cannabis and the widespread practice of using cannabis to manage mental health.”
a norwegian study considering youth, cannabis use and physical health came to a somewhat similar conclusion, but as it relates to physical, not mental health. “more studies are needed to explore if there might be a bidirectional relationship between cannabis use and physical health problems where physical problems increase cannabis use and cannabis use increases the risk of physical health problems,” researchers suggested.
the centre for addiction and mental health (camh) reported in early 2021 that a “persistent and concerning trend emerged across canada” during the first wave of covid-19. “we know that regular use of cannabis leads to greater health problems, addiction and other mental health disorders,” argued tara elton-marshall, an independent scientist at camh and senior author of findings published in the journal of addiction medicine.
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