A decade after the first state moved to legalize recreational marijuana, the dangerous effects of the drug are coming to light.
Across the country, physicians are seeing more people with marijuana addiction, psychosis including delusions or paranoia, schizophrenia, and a serious syndrome involving severe vomiting as more people use the drug, The New York Times found. The outlet examined medical records, insurance data, and spoke to hundreds of doctors and marijuana users.
Emergency rooms are seeing more people present with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, a condition involving “severe vomiting,” nausea, and pain caused by heavy marijuana consumption. The condition can cause extreme dehydration, seizures, kidney failure, cardiac arrest, and even death. At least eight people have died in the U.S. from the condition, the Times reported.
One Maine pediatrician said she sees teenagers who use marijuana almost all day, every day, “a remarkably scary amount,” and are dependent on it. A Massachusetts psychiatrist said she is seeing more cases of schizophrenia related to cannabis use. Even temporary psychosis from marijuana use can last months in some cases.
Some research suggests that about six million people who use the drug almost daily could have symptoms of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome.
One emergency room doctor in Aurora, Colorado, said his hospital treats people with the condition daily. A Michigan pediatrician said she sees the syndrome all the time as well.
About 18 million people, nearly a third of all adult users, reported symptoms of cannabis use disorder, meaning they continue to use the drug despite significant negative effects on their lives, a new data analysis of the 2022 U.S. national drug use survey showed.
Younger users especially tend to misuse the drug. Nearly 17% of people 18 to 25 have cannabis use disorder, now higher than the 15% rate of alcohol use disorder, according to last year’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health. More than 4.5 million of these young people use the drug every day or almost every day.
This is also concerning since marijuana use affects brain development until around age 25.
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More people also use marijuana to ease anxiety and depression amid rising rates of those mental health disorders.
Marijuana is a $33 billion industry in the U.S., and the new products are much more potent than the versions of the drug that were around several decades ago. In the 1990s, marijuana had about 5% THC, the substance that causes the drug’s “high.” Today, some products sold include concentrates with as high as 99% THC.
Only two states limit the amount of THC in most recreational marijuana products.
Recreational marijuana is now legal in 24 states, but it is still illegal under federal law.
Initially, advocates pushed to legalize medical marijuana to ease the suffering of chronically ill people. However, the push largely in Democrat-led states for recreational legalization did not take long, spurred by activists who opposed keeping people convicted of lower-level marijuana offenses in prison, particularly black offenders.
