Potency and frequency of use play a role in the relationship between cannabis and mental health.

In our new @JAMAPsych paper, high potency cannabis is associated with anxiety disorders and cannabis abuse symptoms.

Paper: https://ja.ma/2yJRiBy 

Little thread.... 1/7

This is @CO90s so we know what people’s mental health symptoms were when they were in early adolescence.

We’ve accounted for that, as well as how often cannabis is used. These findings suggest likelihood of anxiety and cannabis problems is over and above these factors 2/7

I think concern around high potency cannabis often overlooks social and psychological impacts.

People using high potency cannabis were much more likely to report problems like: family being concerned, getting into trouble as a result of drug use, being unable to cut down 3/7

Is it self-medication for anxiety? We found no relationship between use of high potency cannabis and depression.

People say they use cannabis to help both depression and anxiety, so if they were self-medicating for anxiety I’d expect to see similar results for depression 4/7

We found an association with psychotic experiences… until we took into account how often people were using cannabis.

We really need to understand the role that frequency of cannabis use plays in this relationship 5/7

Improtant to note, we’re relying on people to accurately know what type of cannabis they're using. This may be difficult in a country where cannabis is illegal to sell and buy, so it needs to be replicated (though controlled trials are ethically tricky) 6/7

Where cannabis is legal, we need scrutiny of the regulation on potency. Where it’s sold illegally, we need good support for those with cannabis problems, and support for mental health services 7/7