The National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse
Marihuana - A Signal of Misunderstanding.
Chapter II
marihuana use and its effects
Mental Functioning
The incidence of psychiatric hospitalizations for acute psychoses and of use of drugs
other than alcohol is not significantly higher than among the non-using population. The
existence of a specific longlasting, cannabis-related psychosis is poorly defined. If
heavy cannabis use produces a, specific psychosis, it must be quite rare or else
exceedingly difficult to distinguish from other acute or chronic psychoses.
Recent studies suggest that the occurrence of any form of psychosis in heavy cannabis
users is no higher than in the general population. Although such use is often quite,
prevalent in hospitalized mental patients, the drug could only be considered a. causal
factor in a, few cases. Most of these were, short-term reactions or toxic overdoses. In
addition, a concurrent use of alcohol often played a role in the, episode causing
hospitalization.
These findings are somewhat surprising in view of the widespread belief that cannabis
attracts the mentally unstable, vulnerable individual. Experience in the United States has
not involved a level of heavy marihuana, use comparable to these foreign countries.
Consequently, such long-lasting psychic disturbances possibly caused by heavy cannabis use
have not been observed in this country.
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